Stand By Me
by SyncroX
Summary: Thrust into another world, blessed with another adventure. With help from the celestial beings, the Sage will do whatever it takes to save the Prince and Princess from the tragic grips of Fate. It's not like he had to face evil, immortal egomaniacs before, right? *Temporary Hiatus*
1. Prologue: Kingsglaive

**Stand By Me**

 **Prologue: Kingsglaive**

"Ha! A hairpin? I didn't think you were into that kinda thing?"

"Maybe she's finally getting in touch with her inner female, heh!"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." With a quick roll of her eyes, the brunette retorted, "It's not for me, it's for the princess. But keep that quiet, no one is supposed to know about this mission."

Before the other two could tease her any further, a quick series of beeps from the van's horn changed the atmosphere. As if on cue, all three soldiers grew somber, knowing what was next to come.

"Well, that's me." Flicking her thumb at the vehicle, Crowe shrugged casually with a small smile, "I'll see you guys around."

"Watch your back out there. We'll be waiting."

"Look, I know you're sick of hearing this, but you're like a litt – " The brown-haired man started, just like he always would when the woman went on a solo mission.

"Like a little sister to you, yes, yes I've only heard that one billion times." Giving Libertus a light whack on the shoulder, "I _am_ sick of hearing it." Knowing that it was time to go, she nimbly climbed into the back of the van, checking her gear to make sure she didn't forget anything.

"As long as you come back in one piece, you can hit me as much as you wish." Still worried for his 'little sister', Libertus couldn't help but repeat himself.

Crowe took one look at his fractured leg and snorted, "Says the guy in two pieces."

Next to Libertus, the other guy shook his head in amusement, "Come now, you know he's just taking Leader's 'we're all one big family' thing very seriously."

"Sigh… don't even get me started on that. When was the last time we've even seen him? Hmph." Apparently, that was not a good subject to broach, and the brunette swiftly shut the doors to the van, signaling for the driver to go.

"Wow Nyx, surely even you know better than to talk about that." The raised eyebrows on the man spoke volumes of his disbelief.

With a wry grin, Nyx simply shook his head and answered confidently, "That's where you're wrong. Crowe misses him the most out of all of us. By reminding her of him, it'll make sure she focuses on her mission. The last thing she wants is for Leader to come back and see a 'failed mission' on her record."

"Erm… you're sure she won't just be pissed off the whole day?"

"Well, that's a side-effect that the driver will just have to endure."

"Ho ho, psychological warfare in play eh? Sadistic much, Mr. Hero?"

"Hey I learnt from the best." Nyx gave his childhood friend a playful shove, "If only you paid attention in his classes."

"Oh heavens no. No thank you." Shaking his head, Libertus propped himself properly on the crutches and proceeded to limb down the streets, "I'd rather not eat for a day."

Considering how the man loves his food like no one else, that's saying quite a lot.

Staring up at the sky momentarily, Nyx thought quietly to himself, _Things are getting crazy back here Leader… I promised you I would protect our 'family' with my life, but sometimes, I just feel so helpless… This peace treaty from Niflheim just doesn't feel right. I wonder what you would do in times like this…?_

"What's wrong Nyx? I thought we were going to get a quick bite!"

"Huh? Oh, right." Shaking himself out of his reverie, the young man jogged towards his friend, a small smile gracing his lips as a familiar saying crept into his mind.

" _You just gotta believe!"_

"Whoa, that's one creepy smile. What's wrong with you?" Libertus couldn't help but get one last dig in as he ambled towards the restaurant.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Nyx simply ignored the chortles coming from the brown-haired man, instead choosing to focus on the road ahead.

 _We're all waiting for you, Leader. Don't let us down now._

~ ***** XV ***** ~

This was the first time Nyx saw the famed Oracle, Princess Lunafreya. She was the youngest Oracle in the history of the world, with the ability to talk to the Gods. Adored and revered by all, she seemed to fit the image Nyx had perfectly. With flawless, long blond hair, she looked the perfect image of an angel in that white dress of hers.

Interestingly enough, it was just as the rumors said; a crimson fox draped itself over her left shoulder, with its tails curled lazily around her neck, almost protectively in its own unique way. People say that her pet has been with her since she was young and it has never left her side wherever she goes. Someone even said this animal was a present from the gods, for what fox has more than one tail?

The fox aside, what mostly intrigued Nyx though was the strength behind those cerulean eyes; something almost akin to resolve burned in those orbs, which led the young man to further confirm his fears – This treaty is not what it seems.

They've received news a few days ago, that Crowe was declared MIA when her location tracker suddenly went offline. They had been expecting her to return earlier than the ETA seeing how Lunafreya was actually in Insomnia already, but it was not to be. The worst thing was, they didn't even know if she was alive or not, and that itself scared the rest of the squad to no end. In this current world, if you went missing on a mission, two possibilities come to mind. One, you've been killed, be it by the enemy, by daemons or by accidents. Two, you've betrayed your country, and have sided with the enemy.

Libertus almost got into a big fight with their fellow glaives as a few had insinuated the above. Neither of the two possibilities give ringing endorsements to your safety, so it was no wonder the brown-haired man felt like breaking a few jaws for them.

The big man knew that Crowe was probably dead, but he didn't want to believe it. After all, a similar event had happened just a few years ago. The question had also been raised: Why would someone go MIA in a simple escort mission? In the end, Libertus had stormed out of the room, cursing under his breath as he left. This incident, added on top of the fact that he already had doubts of the King, had been the final straw.

" _Damn it, it's happening all over again! First Leader, now Crowe! Go back to the castle and tell the King that we're not just tools that he can throw away as he pleases! I'm going to go find Crowe! If they're not going to tell us what is happening, then I'll go about things my way!"_

"It has been a long time, your Majesty." A soft, gentle voice echoed through the room, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Yes. It has been far too long." The esteemed King of Lucis greeted her warmly, with a bittersweet smile on his face. "I see that you still take him with you on your trips?"

"Yes, your Majesty. As you can see, he is still quite the lazy fellow." Giving the fox a light scratch behind the ears after she received a disgruntled growl at her comments, she continued, "He never greets people properly though, so you'll have to excuse him."

King Regis chuckled at that, "Ah yes, I still remember how he bit me right on the hand when I tried to pet him." To that, the Princess smiled, "And I remember how Noctis-sama and I spent the whole afternoon chasing him, attempting to 'punish' him for doing something so evil."

Polite laughter came from both parties for a few moments, before Lunafreya quietly asked, "Noctis-sama is no longer here, is he?"

"No, my dear, he is not." As the princess gave a sigh of resignation, he continued on, "I'm too old to fight this war. I have no choice but to receive the Empire and accept their peace treaty."

Thinking back to how he had bid his son farewell just a few days ago, the old King shook his head in regret, "Even so, I had hoped to hold the wedding elsewhere, somewhere safe." Looking directly at Nyx, he quickly followed, "I can send you to him, with one of my glaives. He'll make sure you reach my son safely. Please, go to my son."

Imagine Nyx's surprise when the Oracle thought about it for a moment, before silently shaking her head, "No, I'm followed by the emperor wherever I go. If I were to go to him now, it would only place the Prince in greater danger. It is my duty to protect the Prince and make sure his destiny is fulfilled without fail. These twelve years have not changed anything."

King Regis too, could see the resolve in the girl's eyes, "And what of your happiness?"

Lunafreya returned the question with a confident smile, "Being of help to the Prince is my greatest happiness. My duty is my destiny, your Majesty. I'm prepared to accept whatever may come to pass."

A sudden weariness seemed to overcome the King as he could only watch on with grief in his eyes. It was as if he was made to relive the sense of dread he had felt when he first discovered the fate of his son many years ago. Flashes of flames and death raced before his eyes as he recalled the horrific scene that happened in Tenebrae.

Though the King never uttered a word, Nyx could almost feel the hidden words in the King's actions as he dropped his head in a bow, before sitting back on the throne.

" _I'm sorry. Please forgive this old man."_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

Betrayal hurts like no other emotion. The loss of a beloved one is painful, the feeling of failure is dreadful, but there is no worse feeling than having your comrades turn on you. It was quite evident at this point what had happened.

Being preyed by S-class daemon creature Ultros was nothing compared to seeing the King cut down by General Glauca of the Empire. Being shot by hollowpoint bullets was nothing compared to hearing that son-of-a-bitch proclaim that he was surprised Crowe had escaped considering he shot her too.

"You never were too smart." Luche had mocked with a cocky smirk on his face, "You could have had a new future with the empire, a prosperous one. The days of the Flash are over! You old glaives cling on to your glorious days, forgetting the rest of us out there still live the lives of dogs with our home bound and shackled by Lucis! Where is your esteemed leader now, hm? Oh that's right, he died!"

Needless to say, Nyx didn't even pay him much attention as the idiot was tactfully dealt with by the Princess. There was a slight sense of satisfaction as Luche screamed in agony whilst being burned to death. Fitting.

But now learning that General Glauca was actually their captain of the Kingsglaive all along? Even for him, this was a bit too much. The man that was practically his mentor for the last three years! Granted, no one could replace the Leader, but the captain had treated him well and taught him quite a few tricks.

It was all coming together now. When their Leader, the Flash as they called him, had left on a mission, he had already been warned about this.

" _Things are going to start getting rough pretty soon. If the worst were to happen, I might not be here in time to protect you guys. Always remember to trust your instincts and do as your heart says. I'm counting on you Nyx, take care of the guys for me."_

"Nyx!" A desperate yell broke him out of his reminiscing as he stared Drautos… no, _General Glauca_ right in the eye.

"It's over. The daemons have been unleashed. Lucis is fallen." The man in armor slowly made his way towards Nyx and the Princess, his sword slowly raised as everyone knew what was next to come. "Surrender the ring."

Lunafreya bit her lips, understanding that she really didn't have any other choice but to put the ring on herself in an attempt to try and ward off the enemy general, was surprised by the soldier when he placed a hand over the ring instead.

"Hey hey hey, don't you have a destiny to worry about? If you want to give those kings a piece of your mind, here, let me do it for you." Snatching it from her before she could attempt what was equivalent to suicide, he grinned as remembered the Leader's final words before he left on the mission.

"Besides, didn't anyone tell you? I'm the hero around here!"

As soon as he put the ring of Lucii on, time slowed down instantly, with world slowly fading into darkness. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, trying to readjust himself to the eerie atmosphere as he came face to face with the old Kings of Lucis.

"So long do you guys plan on letting Insomnia just burn? Get that wall of yours up and running, I don't care if it's New or Old." Holding his hand over the gun wound, it was all he could do to stay conscious at this point.

"Silence mortal, you do not command us when you're not even of Royal Blood. We are the wards of the future, and it does not fall upon us to guard the city."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Nyx let the old Kings continue, "Man is a fool creature, clinging to his past and cowering from his future, wasting his strength on bygone days."

"So what future are you wards of?" Unable to resist a sarcastic remark in the face of the Kings' Holier-than-thou attitudes, the young man was getting weaker by the second.

"So short-sighted, and cursed never to rise above it."

"Wait, He is the one the Sage has taken under his wing. I've already seen what this brave young man has prepared to do. He, too, seeks to safeguard the future, not for his sake, but for everyone else."

 _That voice… Your Majesty…_ _What does he mean by the 'Sage'? Is he talking about Leader?_

"Oh, is that so?" The old Kings murmured in interest for a few seconds, before concluding, "Very well, young King, we shall weigh this warrior's worth. But our boon does not come cheap, the cost is a life." As if on cue, smoky illusions of the Princess and Libertus sprung to view. "Now choose."

"To hell with that! I didn't come here for your power!" Swatting aside the images, he stared defiantly at the Old Kings, "I only came to tell you, that you're no kings!"

Silence reigned for a few moments, before the voice sounded once more, "Your worth has been weighed and found wanting. Now burn."

In an instant, his left hand was set ablaze. Searing pain shot through his nerves as he fell to the ground, clutching at it in agony. But even so, he refused to let them beat him, "Sure, sure. But at this rate, you're going to lose your precious ring. It's not too late for me to save it though."

"You mean to barter for your life?"

"No. No, no, no. My life was, still is, nothing. I would have been nothing but daemon fodder had Leader and the King not taken me in. I understand that, I understand that very well." A wry smile grew on his face as memories flashed through his mind of the teachings he got from them, "A wise man once told me, it's ok to remember the past, but not to dwell on it."

Ignoring the blinding pain that was in his hand, he forced himself upright, somehow managing to catch his breath as he continued, "He also told me that focusing on the future is great, but not to do so blindly."

" _There is nothing worse than being fanatic about something just because you feel like you need to. You say you live to protect, Nyx, well then, I ask you of this, what is it that you're trying to protect? Yourself? People precious to you? The city? The Royal Family? Which is it?"_

He had been stunned to say the least, when he was asked that question. He hadn't given it much thought. He knew that he wanted to avenge his sister and to make sure no one else had to go through what happened to him. Sure, he would protect the people as well with his actions, and it was his duty as a glaive to protect the Royal Family. But deep inside, what did he actually want to protect?

" _What is your goal in life, Nyx Ulric? What do you hope to accomplish in this life? What do you want your proudest achievement to be when your precious people speak of you?"_

Back then, it had taken him a few days before he got a smile from the Leader with his answer.

Now, he did not hesitate, "Giving a future to those who want to see it… is everything!" The conviction in his voice was almost physical and palpable as the Old Kings contemplated his reply.

"Even if the future is doomed, do you not fear?"

"Ha! Like that guy always says… You just gotta believe!" It could be his imagination, but did the soul of King Regis actually chuckle?

"If that sentiment is not false, perhaps you _are_ worthy." As one, they nodded, "We shall grant you our light, but know it will set when the sun rises, and the price for it will be your life."

" _Heh heh, I laugh in the face of death! Because heroes never die!"_

Feeling the burning sensation in his hand slowly fading away, he stood up tall in front of the Old Kings, "You guys drive a hard bargain… So where do I sign?"

 _I hope you're proud of me, Leader…_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

In the end, it had all come down to conviction. He did have magic back, but his injuries weren't magically cured. General Glauca was extremely formidable in his magic armor, and just kept coming back for more. Not to mention Diamond Weapon was literally raining missiles over the entire city.

"How did you… what did you…" Blood gurgled in his throat as he tried to express his disbelief.

Huffing in exhaustion, Nyx couldn't help but give his enemy a victorious smirk, "Hope you know what it feels like to be stabbed by that sword now."

It was quite obvious to most who have seen the glaives in combat what they did. Sure they had some prowess in close combat, but their most famous trademark was the ability to warp to their weapons using the King's magic. Because of that ability, they were quite feared for a long period of time.

However, things changed when the magitek soldiers had a sensor installed in them. After all, the glaives weren't of Royal Blood and more than a few felt extremely disoriented right after the warp, meaning it took time for them to regather their bearings every time they tried the technique. Nyx had it better than others but it still took him about a second or two to recover from that nauseous feeling. In that second, a magitek soldier would easily be able to react and gun you down.

That had been the turning point of the war. Daemons started causing more havoc because there just weren't enough glaives to counter them when you had to pay attention to those blasted robots.

On top of that, once the enemy got used to the warping, it was actually their most glaring weakness. Since they weren't of Royal Blood, they weren't able to perform the perfect warping that the Royal family were famed for, and instead, there was a slight lag that proved exploitable. Whenever the weapon was thrown the enemy would be able to almost predict the incoming attack because of it, and hence the glaives were further pushed to the brink, as their most recent battle before the treaty had shown.

General Glauca had expected the warp. He just didn't expect it to actually be to the blade Libertus had stuck into his armor ages ago and what he thought was a frontal assault had turned out to be a backstab. Worse, because he was so focused on taking the hit head on, he didn't even have time to react to the spectacular reversal performed by Nyx where his blade was directed right into his own stomach.

The pose he stood in right now was eerily similar to that of the King when he died.

"King Regis did what he could for the future. It is because of him, that we still have hope for our homes."

It had been a glorious battle, one that he would never forget. The Old Wall had activated the towering statues across Insomnia, spurring them into combat and what a fight it was. Sure they were outnumbered, but when that final fist smashed right into the core of the Diamond Weapon, the hideous daemon that wrecked the entire city, a burst of exhilaration coursed through Nyx's veins.

Staring at his slowly burning body, he gave a wistful grin, "Well, not the worst way to go."

Remembering Lunafreya's words about how she promised to help the Prince save the future, he whispered, "Rule well, Young King."

 _Leader, Libertus, Crowe… Goodbye._

~ ***** XV ***** ~

The Oracle was currently rushing out of the city as fast as she could. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she eyed the devastation that was left in the wake of the attack. She knew this was coming all along, yet she could do nothing to stop it. The road was only going to get much grimmer, but she had to hold her head high. The starscourge was coming and her magic can only hold on for so long. She needed to awaken the Astrals and help Noctis-sama gain their approval.

"Calm yourself. It is what it is." A gruff voice sounded around her neck.

Peering down, she could see that the fox has finally awakened, "What…?"

"That idiot made a promise and he never breaks those."

"I know that but…"

"But nothing! This world has been caught up in war for the past fifteen years. When I first got here I can't even begin to describe the horrible feeling the energy this place dissipated gave me. It was like dead people crawling all over the land!" Standing on his paws, the fox stared right into her eyes, "Never forget that you're not alone in this, Luna. We're with you every step of the way."

Blinking back her tears at the words of encouragement, she kept up her pace as she could see Umbra and Pryna in the distance. She needed to know how Noctis was. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he was taking the news about his father being dead as well as the entire city of Insomnia being overrun by the Empire. He had always been a carefree boy, completely unaware of the grim fate that awaits him, so this would have been the first major tragedy that he faced.

"Is he alright, Gentiana?" The gruff voice spoke again.

Giving her beloved dogs a final pet, she peered up into the emerald eyes of the mystical woman. Wearing a formal black and gold dress, with her luscious jet-black hair flowing down to her waist, she looked the perfect image of beauty and grandeur.

"Noctis-sama and co are currently on their way towards Lestallum, ready to meet up with Iris-sama." She pulled the girl into her arms as the fox hopped off of Lunafreya, "You did well today."

"Gentiana… I…" Feeling the kindness in the Ice Queen's arms, the tears that had once stopped threatened to emerge once again.

"God damn it woman, stop making the poor girl cry!"

"Crude as ever, aren't we?" Gentiana tilted her head towards the fox, "I would have thought you would help the poor soldiers in Insomnia fight against that beast, but I guess it was too much work for you."

"Keh, I had to make sure Luna was safe. If I had joined in the fight, there literally wouldn't be a city left once I was done with that blasted daemon. Besides, it all worked out in the end, right?"

The Ice Queen lightly stroked the hair of the Oracle as she replied, "I guess our definitions of 'worked out' are different then. I believe you owe that young man an apology."

"What?! I _do not_!" The indignation that he would owe anyone an apology was clear as day.

"If he hadn't worn the ring, Luna –"

"Would have been absolutely fine and you know it. If this girl isn't worthy of power, then no one is. Heck, she's doing all this to save their pathetic asses."

"So letting an innocent young man burn to death was a good choice?" Gentiana teased even though she already knew the answer that was to come.

"Bah, that brat is already on his way to sort out the kid. He'll be fine. Just think of it as a test of sorts from me to see whether or not he was worthy."

Lunafreya gasped as she heard this and turned back to the fox, "Kurama-san, does this mean…?"

With a wide smirk on his face, he replied in the affirmative, "Oh yes, he's back."

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _Interesting, this burning business sure is taking its time…_

Nyx was seen lying on the ground, spread-eagled as he was trying to figure out what to do. It was a silly thought because he knew he was going to die, but… it was just taking _so long_.

The Old Kings said sunrise right? Well damn, the Sun is pretty damn high up in the sky already! Not that he wanted to die or anything, but if it was going to happen anyway, he wanted it to be swift and painless, not this whole burn your insides out while you wait patiently situation!

"Libertus should have gotten the Princess out of the city by now. That idiot better not get caught by any Empire soldiers." Sighing, the young man closed his eyes for the umpteenth time, "Any moment now…"

Silence reigned in the area as he continued his wait for death. Very anti-climatic.

Until of course, it was broken by a very familiar voice, "Nyyyyyxxxxxx!"

His eyes sprung open at that, "Libertus?!"

Sure enough, his childhood friend was rushing towards him. Yes, _rushing_ on that fracture leg. Before long, he was by his side, muttering in disbelief, "Oh thank goodness you're alive. Wait what is happening?! Why are you burning?! He said you were fine!"

"Geez Libertus, calm down." For some reason, his friend's typical reaction brought a smile to his lips.

"How can I calm down when you're burning?!"

"It's fine. It's the price I had to pay to get rid of that stupid daemon." Suddenly realizing something, Nyx frowned, "What do you mean _he said_ I was fine? Who said?"

The brown-haired man suddenly whacked himself on the head as he frantically stood up, waving at someone else in the distance, "Leader! He's over here, I've found him! He's still alive!"

 _Wait, what? Leader…?_

Right on cue, there was that man with the same playful smirk he wore just before he left on the mission many years ago, with his spiky blond hair billowing in the wind.

"You found him? Good job Lib!" With practiced ease, he leapt to their spot, gracefully landing beside Nyx, who was still staring at him with utmost disbelief, "It's been awhile hasn't it? What, cat got your tongue?"

"Leader… you're… you're alive!" To say Nyx was shocked would be an understatement.

"Geez, thanks for writing me off, ye of no faith." The blond playfully ruffled the hair of his subordinate, seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that the brunet was on fire. Literally.

"Wait, wait, Leader, do something about this, he's going to die otherwise!"

"Oh shush, he's fine. I've already spoken to the Old Kings. The negotiation was a bit tough but I managed to charm them enough to lighten the 'sentence' so as to speak."

Nyx stared at the man incredulously, "Charmed them?! Wait, before that, how did you even speak to them?!"

"Heh, don't worry about it."

"Leader!"

Laughing at Nyx's reactions, the man winked at him before continuing, "Alright, I know you have questions but we're still technically in enemy territory, we need to get back to base. I'll give you a proper rundown of what has happened and what our future missions will be. By the way, Crowe has been worried sick about you guys, so I'm giving you a heads up."

" _Crowe?! She's with you?!_ "

"Yeah, funny story that. I'll tell you later."

This sudden turn of events was enough to get anyone confused, and needless to say, Nyx Ulric is completely flabbergasted at how his Leader still had that ability to make absolutely no sense whatsoever and yet act as if everything made _perfect_ sense.

"Just so you know, we're going to have to go my way, since you can't use magic ever again."

Nyx blinked, before responding with a very eloquent, "Huh?"

"Yeah, those old farts insisted that you get some form of penalty if you were to be spared, so I suggested they remove your magical abilities. So the burning will probably need to continue just a bit longer."

Did… did his _respected_ leader just say that he bartered away any possibility of him using magic in the future in exchange for keeping him alive? Why was he saying it like it was a common occurrence?!

"Don't worry about it." Again, a nonchalant reply to answer his ever-growing pool of questions.

"You know what… I'm not going to." He was originally ready for death anyway, so what was losing the ability to use magic compared to living.

"I've heard that you did quite the heroic act today, adding more accolades to your records hm?"

Rolling his eyes at the typical tease he would always get, he retorted, "Well if you were actually here to help out, I wouldn't have had to do any of that now, would I?"

The blond simply laughed as he gathered Libertus and Nyx into his summoning circle that he had drawn up awhile ago, "Hey, I thought I told you this before. A hero is always fashionably late," With his right hand in a seal, the circle glowed green as a torrent of energy rose to enclose them in an orb, "And who am I to disappoint?"

With a flash, all three figures disappeared from the battleground, without a single trace they were here in the first place.

Five years ago, famed general 'The Flash' had left on a top-secret mission for Lucis, with the intent of breaking down the Empire's production of daemons, and if that was unsuccessful, he as to assassinate Empire Chancellor, Ardyn Izunia. He was later declared MIA two years later by the Royal Family, leading to dismay and despair across the country, for he was beloved and adored by all. His might and charisma were legendary for someone so young, and many mourned the loss of such a wonderful person.

Fellow general "Immortal Shogun" Cor Leonis had then set off on a journey, by order of King Regis himself, to see if he could find any information about The Flash's whereabouts. Many would later wonder if the outcome of the 'Battle of Insomnia' would have changed had both generals been participating in the war.

Said Empire Chancellor was currently enjoying himself some good wine in his room on his personal airship, quite happy with how everything was going according to plan. He almost couldn't wait to meet the 'Chosen Prince' at Galdin Quay. There really wasn't much to worry about now that the first domino had fallen.

At that moment, he felt that familiar discharge of energy, the complete opposite of the daemon essence within him, the power that came quite close to eliminating him more than a few times over the last few years, "Ah… looks like I spoke too soon."

Placing the glass down, he moved to the window and gave a vicious smirk, "So you've finally made your move… Well then, shall we dance once again? Uzumaki Naruto."

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _Whenever you're in trouble, won't you stand by me?_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _ **A/N: It's been a long time, guys. I'll elaborate more on my profile if you're interested. Read & Review guys, as always. Cheers. **_


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 1: Awakening**

It would be about three days later when Nyx finally woke up from his slumber. Warping to his dagger via magic was one thing; warping through Leader's weird 'summon circle' as he called it? Absolutely disastrous, which would explain why he had no recollection of what happened the moment he got sucked into that vortex of energy.

The first thing he did, surprisingly, was to stare at the bright sun outside the window of his room. Being alive still felt quite surreal and he wouldn't put it past the possibility that the whole meeting with Leader event was actually just a figment of his imagination before he went to the afterlife.

Closing his eyes, he was about to give himself a pinch when he felt a sharp pain on his right cheek.

 _Huh, pre-emptive pain. Wonder what that means?_

"You're alive, you brave, crazy idiot." A familiar feminine voice sounded right next to him, with equal amounts of exasperation and amusement in them. Another sign that he was probably imagining things.

"Really Nyx? Really?" The pain intensified as the pulling on his skin increased to exponential proportions. "Is this proof enough that you're alive?"

"Alright, alright!" Shaking his head to escape the demonic grasp of the female, the young man rubbed his cheek furiously, "You didn't have to pull that hard you know, Crowe."

"Ha! Serves you right! When I heard from them what you pulled off back in Insomnia, I almost wanted to give you a beating right there!"

Nyx raised an eyebrow at that, "So you could kill me after Leader went through all that trouble just to keep me alive?"

"Yes!"

"And here I would've thought Leader would be the first victim." Cue deadpan expression.

"He was!" Clenching her fist and raising it high above her head, the brunette declared proudly, "I whacked him hard on the head when I saw him."

"She actually did." With impeccable timing, 'Leader' made his appearance, shaking his head as he remembered that particular scene, "She really did it, right on that bed too. Like one second she was unconscious; the next one she woke up and saw me, and before I said anything she literally just karate-chopped me on the head. Like what is up with that?"

Before Crowe could get into a heated exclamation, Nyx quickly cut her off, "I would say that you not showing up for about five years was enough to warrant some form of retribution from her."

"Sigh, they grow up so fast." Giving a listless sigh, the blond shrugged, "I can still remember how she used to ask me to pat her head every time after a mission – OUCH!"

Needless to say, more casualties were created when Crowe's 'innocent' childhood was brought up. The irony that Crowe was now anything but that wasn't lost on Nyx at all, which would explain that smirk that remained on his face as he watched the brunette grind her boots into their Leader's feet.

Although Libertus and himself were saved from Galahd, Crowe was actually picked up from the outskirts of a village in the Lucian Frontier. Nyx could still remember the first thing he noticed when he first met her. Not her scrawny physique, not the dirty rags she was in, but the hatred and pain in her eyes, as though she didn't have a single person to trust in the world.

Leader had taken both Libertus and himself on a basic field trip to show them the basics of combatting low-level daemons when they stumbled upon her. She had been trying to escape from the village who had all but threatened to beat her to death or worse if she had dared return. With nothing but herself to fend for, she had to resort to stealing and when you steal from a poor village, you're pretty much going to be the enemy of every single person in that village.

Crowe had been cornered by a group of Sabertusks, and yet there were no tears, no shivers, no nothing. She literally sat on the ground, as though accepting her fate, willing her life to end even. Needless to say, Leader took care of the monsters with what appeared to be a single punch to the ground, scooped her up in his arms and without a word, motioned for them to follow him back to camp.

What came after that was the most awkward few days of their lives. Leader had literally brought her to camp, gave her a thorough washing to get rid of the dirt that was on her, gave her some of the boys' clothing temporarily, before cooking her a nice stew to finish it off.

That dinner table was so quiet it was almost hilarious as he looked back on it now. Leader still hadn't said a word to the girl yet. He had practically done everything for her but not attempted to communicate at all. Everyone just… ate the stew. He had half-expected the girl to throw the stew at their Leader, since she didn't seem the sort to take pity easily but surprisingly, nothing happened. Seriously, they just all went to bed like nothing happened.

The next day, Leader would bring them out to the fields once more and resume his teachings, but this time the girl would sit somewhere in the area and just watch them 'practice'. By practice, it was actually watching them get their asses handed to them by Reapertails, the weakest monsters prowling the fields. When the day ended, the routine would begin again.

Over the course of the next few days, Libertus could be seen trying to chat with her, since you know, Leader _still_ hadn't said a word to her. Or to any of them about this. He just expected them to treat this as the norm. At that point, Nyx had only really known Leader for a few months, and he did realize that the blond had a few quirks but even this was pushing it. It was quite obvious the girl was just ignoring them anyway, so the whole situation was just ridiculous.

"Don't think you're off the hook there, Mister!" Crowe seemed to have noticed his smirks and crossed her arms in displeasure, "What are you grinning at, huh?"

Nyx actually chuckled at that, "I'm pretty sure this happened way back then too."

The brunette blinked for a few moments, before a small blush grew on her cheeks, "S-Shut up! That was a long time ago! Why are you even bringing it up now?!"

It had taken a few weeks, but eventually one fateful event had changed their dynamic. They were out in the fields once again, but this time, the girl was nowhere to be found. In a weird, non-spoken manner, they had sort of divided their duties between the three of them (i.e. collecting wood, getting ingredients for meals, clearing the area of rubbish etc.) The girl seemed to have wandered off to find wood this time, but hadn't returned even at dusk.

Before long, Nyx and Libertus got worried and decided to venture out in the wilderness to look for her. Leader had left earlier that day to go on a 'mission' and had yet to return. Normally there was a curfew for them, but in this case, there really wasn't any hesitation, they had to go find her.

Long story short, she had actually gotten lost because she was chased by a whole bunch of Sabertusks and Reapertails and couldn't find her way back. When they finally found her, she was actually fending off the daemons with rocks on the ground and a couple of branches that were just laying around. Though she had managed to kill quite a few on her own, she was clearly on her last heels and if Nyx hadn't actually jumped right in front of her and tanked a bite from the Sabertusk for her, who knew what would have happened? Libertus had taken that opening and leapt onto the damn thing, stabbing it with his dagger.

Before the other daemons could react, they had hightailed it out of there with Nyx carrying the girl in his arms. The last thing they needed was for a damn Iron Giant to spawn out of nowhere and slice them to bits. As they were running, Nyx could feel the girl clutch to him tightly, with trails of wet liquid running down his arms. At first, he thought it was just the blood, but then he heard whimpering. Glancing down, he was absolutely shocked to see tears just streaming down the girls' face.

" _I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"_

Till this day, Nyx could still remember the first words that came out of Crowe's mouth. Heart-wrenching didn't even begin to describe what he felt since it reminded him too much of his own sister. When they finally reached camp, their Leader was seen waiting for them by the camp, as though expecting this to happen. All this time, the girl simply kept crying and apologizing.

They would later find out (after all the wounds were bandaged and everyone was safe and sound) that she was sorry because she didn't bring any wood back. Not because she was scared for her life, not because she almost died, but because she had _failed_ them in her mind.

Libertus went over and gave her a hug immediately and proclaimed himself to be her big brother from that point on. Nyx nodded his head in the affirmative when she looked at him, as though wondering what his opinion was. That was when their Leader declared them to be a 'family', which was the motto that supported the three of them till today.

" _She needed actions, not words. Whatever I said at that time would mean nothing to her. The poor girl had been lied to, beaten and abused to the point where she felt she needed to leave her 'haven'. The only alternative was the wilderness where she could be killed any second, and yet she chose to venture out. What does that tell you about her experiences?"_

" _She had to see for herself that we weren't going to use her for any other purpose and that we treat her like one of us. If you guys had gotten the message quicker, then it wouldn't have taken so long! Now make sure you remember this: Understanding why someone does something is far more useful than figuring out how someone does something. If you gain this skill, you've gotten yourself a vital survival tool in this world."_

Their 'esteemed' Leader, had expected two young boys to read that deeply into a girl's emotional state and react accordingly. He shouldn't even be surprised; their Leader was just that weird.

"Alright, since you're up and ready, let's take a look at you eh?" Naruto's words shook him out of his reverie, indirectly saving him from Crowe's wrath.

"I'm actually feeling great at this point, much… lighter?"

"Yeah you would. You've been 'purified' with all that burning, remember?"

Crowe winced at that, "That was honestly the freakiest thing I've seen so far. You were literally on fire, with ashes peeling off your skin every five seconds."

"Don't need to tell me that again. I'm still trying to get over the fact that I survived that."

"Heh, don't get too happy yet. We're going to have to retrain your entire body once you've recovered. For now, lie down and get some more rest. The journey ahead of us is just beginning."

"Leader," struggling to get up, Nyx continued, "I feel fine! We can start the training now. Just give me a few minutes."

"Oh no, you don't! Sit your ass down!" The brunette looked at him in disbelief, before forcing her hands on his chest, pushing him back into bed. "Don't you even think about pushing yourself like that. Your muscles are all out of whack right now, I'm surprised you can even move!"

"Always with the exaggeration, it's not that bad – "

"Come on Nyx, with you, it always _is_ that bad."

"We still have time Nyx, don't worry." Naruto grinned, "It'll be awhile before we officially move out anyway. Luna should be fine for now so we can use the next few days to condition and then move on to proper training."

Nyx finally lost the 'battle' with Crowe and fell helplessly back onto the bed, "If you say so, Leader."

"Aw, don't look so upset. You'll love the training menu!" The glee in his voice sounded way too familiar for Nyx's liking. Too many memories of sadistic training (aka torture) came to mind.

"Wait, why are you so happy about it?"

"Oh, no reason really." The vulpine smirk on his leader's face didn't help at all.

"Crowe, you know something, don't you?" Knowing he wasn't going to get much out of the blond, he turned to the only other source of info at the moment.

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Fine, I was going to wait till later to break it to you, but if you're so eager to know," Sending a hand through her hair, Crowe gave a resigned sigh, "We're currently based near Cape Caem. Basically, in a month's time, max, we need to prepare ourselves on a journey to Altissia." For some reason, she stopped there, not wanting to continue.

"Okay…? That's it?" The confusion was real.

Silence was what greeted him as he awaited a response, "Alright, so that's not it. What crazy scheme is he cooking up this time?"

There was just something about the extreme reluctance in Crowe releasing that information that sent shivers down his spine. _Surely_ , whatever it was, it couldn't be _that_ bad.

"Go on Crowe, tell him how you guys are going to get to Altissia." The chirp in his voice sounded like pure evil at that moment.

"What do you mean how we're going to get to –" Realization hit him as he stared right into the brunette's eyes, "You can't be serious."

"… Unfortunately, yes."

"And you're okay with that?!" The incredulity in his voice couldn't go up any more octaves.

"No. But does it look like I have a choice?"

"Well I don't see you helping me convince him that he's utterly _insane_!"

"Do you think I haven't tried?! What did you think I was doing for the past three days!"

Closing his eyes and counting to ten, he took a deep breath, before asking, "Libertus isn't going, right?"

"No, his leg won't let him. He's currently out gathering information for us, having a chat with a few of the locals to map out this area. I've told him to give it a rest but he kept saying it's the least he could do for us while we… we… _prepare_ … to… to…" It almost seemed as if physical pain was preventing her from finishing that sentence.

At this point, he already knew what they were expected to do. No wonder Leader was being all lenient and letting him rest. Heck, he didn't even know if it was possible for him at this stage. Crowe, he assumed, would be able to use some form of magic to assist her hopefully, since there was no way he could foresee her doing it otherwise. As for him, it'll require _a lot_ of preparation.

"Don't worry about it Nyx, I'll make sure you're ready for it." How is it that Leader just had this ability to annoy/frustrate/irritate him just by being there?

"Wow that's just mean, even for you."

Says the man that expected them to _swim_ to Altissia.

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"Ehhhhhh? What do you mean Chocobos are not for rental?" The dismay in Prompto's voice was clear as day. After all, it had taken him quite a long time to convince (aka beg) the crew to come to Wiz Chocobo Post so that they could ride some Chocobos.

" _It'll be a good distraction, just for a little while!"_

"Well, it figures something like this would happen." Gladiolus shook his head as Wiz began explaining apologetically to the group that there was a behemoth in the region that kept preying on their Chocobos and it just wasn't safe for them to be rented anymore.

Surprisingly, it was Ignis who came up with the suggestion, "So, if we were to rid you of that Behemoth, we would be able to rent Chocobos again?"

"Oooh! Ignis!" The blond hopped up and down whilst waving his arms in excitement, "Aww yeah! Let's do it!"

"Wait, wait, wait, what? I thought we're going to Lestallum!" His sister was there after all, and the sooner he saw her safe, the faster he'll be at ease.

"Awww, but, but think of the poor Chocobos! At this rate, they'll be kept here forever, unable to run free in the wild and they'll all end up dying in sorrow! I didn't think you would be that cruel, big guy!" The fact that Prompto was jabbing his finger into Gladiolus' chest with each sentence emphasized just how much he wanted to do the hunt.

"What? No, I didn't mean _that_ ," Staring helplessly back at the blond, he turned to the Prince for help, "Well, Noctis? What do you say?"

Said Prince was currently staring at the hunt poster in thought, "Hm, what do you reckon Ignis? Should we do it?"

The tactician of the team glanced over to see Prompto giving him the 'puppy-eye' look, before nodding, "If we kill this 'Deadeye', we get the meat, a sizeable amount of gil and also the ability to rent Chocobos in the future. The only downside is we need to spend a bit of time, but in this case, I reckon the pros outweigh the cons."

Running a hand through his spiky black hair, Noctis turned around and gave the Chocobo Post owner, Wiz, a thumbs up, "Alright, it's settled then. Don't worry old man, we'll get this thing sorted before you know it!" Waving to the final two members of the group, he pointed to their destination, "Let's go slay ourselves a Behemoth!"

"Woohoo! Right on!" To say Prompto was ecstatic would be an understatement.

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"Is there really a need to rush?" A certain fox grumbled unhappily.

They were currently travelling to the Disc of Cauthess to rouse Titan in an attempt to get him to form a covenant with Noctis to aid him on his journey. Knowing that group of knuckleheads, it wouldn't be surprising if they got into a situation that had all of them on the edge of dying, so for the sake of her beloved fiancée, Luna was doing all she could to ensure she didn't marry a dead person.

Well, that was what Kurama said. The huge blush on the Oracle's face when he muttered that was followed by a shy smack on his head, which the fox did not appreciate.

" _Why do I get punished for speaking the truth?!"_

According to her, all she wanted to do was ensure that 'Noctis-sama' was ready when the time came, and that he would need the Astrals on his side in order to combat the Empire.

" _Sure, sure, but that just sounds boring. Let's go with my version of events. It has more credibility to the general public."_

Needless to say, the poor girl was teased the whole way on their journey, interacting the same way they've had for the last fifteen or so years. Since a young age, the Princess had already started having 'visions' of the future, learning about the Starscourge and communing with the Astrals. An Oracle didn't have friends, because she served a noble purpose for the whole of Eos, and no one was to jeopardize her 'mission' whatsoever.

It didn't help that everyone would just stare at her in awe every single time she so much as looked at them. Being the kind, gentle girl that she was, not once did she complain about anything. Her mother doted on her as much as she could, understanding the burden that she would one day have to carry, and her beloved brother would entertain her in all ways possible, because the sight of a sad Lunafreya was just heart-wrenching to anyone.

Things changed on that fateful day, when her visions started blurring. It was as though the timeline was being changed and new possibilities were being added. For every ending that involved Starscourge engulfing Eos, she saw two others of the same person successfully erasing it. That person used to be unrecognizable, but had slowly grown clearer over the years in her 'visions'. It didn't take long for her to figure out that it was Prince Noctis from Lucis. King Regis had visited them before on a political trip and the young kid made quite the impression on her with his never-ending energy. Though their meeting was short, Lunafreya had thoroughly enjoyed the Prince's presence and was just glad to have made her first friend.

The next time they met however, was a few years later when King Regis and Noctis visited once again, this time with the young Prince more subdued. His mother had passed away recently, protecting him from a daemon before King Regis and his subordinates could get to them in time. It was a tragic event, one that thoroughly destroyed the Prince's spirits. His eyes lacked any warmth and his entire being just reeked of apathy, as though nothing in this world mattered anymore.

She had tried her best to encourage him, and explain to him the wonders of life, because she knew the reason why King Regis had brought him here. Noctis was the Chosen One, the one she kept seeing in her visions, the one that was meant to destroy Starscourge and rid Eos of the darkness that was to come.

The Prince had been receptive to her and her alone, and that endeared him to her even more. The memories she had of him then were some that she would never forget, for those were definitely some of the happiest moments in her life.

"Oi, stop drifting off while I'm talking to you." A disgruntled fox mumbled by her side.

Lunafreya blinked as she looked down, "Ah, sorry Kurama-san, I didn't mean to ignore you."

"I swear, how can you still be so polite when all I've been doing is bitching about random stuff the whole time?!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry, sorry." Attempting to placate him, the Oracle started apologizing, though the action only seemed to intensify the fox's negative emotions.

"Gaaaaah! How can anyone be so nice?! How do you even attain such purity in your soul?!"

For someone who's spent ages (literally) with a blond that has pretty much exhibited and experienced all emotions of mankind, it was pretty baffling for Kurama to constantly be treated 'nicely'. One thing about Naruto was that he gave good banter. There was just nothing better than talking shit to your best pal every now and then. It served as good motivation, improved your bond and acted as a good way to pass time.

With Luna, there was none of that. _None_.

"But we're friends Kurama-san, why wouldn't I be nice to you?" The gentle smile on her face proved too bright for the sinned soul of the mighty Bijuu.

"I swear you do that to me on purpose." There was just no way for him to retort. He just didn't understand! Any other girl would have complained about _something_ by now. One just did not shoulder the burden of the world (again, literally) and went about their lives as though nothing changed! Kurama had been trying to get some form of outburst from her for years without success. Pretty much every time Naruto came to visit them, he spent an hour or so grumbling to the blond about how he better work his ass off to ensure the girl was safe, or else.

"Hehe," Chuckling, she reached down and gave the mumbling fox a warm hug, "I'm fine Kurama-san. I know you're worried about me, but I'm fine. Besides, you were the one who told me not to worry, right?" A playful tint entered her cerulean orbs as she smiled, "Or are you not going to protect me anymore?"

"WHAT?! Hell no! I'll protect you from this damn world if I have to. Let them come! I dare them! I'll rip those bastards' heads off! That'll teach them to mess with my Luna!"

It was pretty clear at this stage Kurama was this uncle that you would always have that would care about you but had no idea how to really express it apart from trying to motivate you via tough love, yet couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to you at all. It just so happens he's currently a pet, which made it even more hilarious if anyone were to stumble upon this scene.

Secretly, Luna would never tell Kurama (because he would get mad again), but she really loved the fox in his Chibi-form. Never mind how majestic he actually was, the fact that she could cuddle with him at any time plus these sorts of tirade he would have every now just made her love him even more. She couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like without him by her side.

"You wouldn't have to do any of this shit if that stupid Prince stepped up his game already!"

Ah yes, one important thing to note: Kurama didn't really like Noctis. In his eyes, the Prince was a lazy, no-good, stupid, idiotic, pathetic, weak, cry-baby, papa's boy, rude, arrogant, _useless_ piece of… you know what.

The fox really didn't hold back his dislike for the Prince, aiming to bite him at least once each time he saw him. Noctis still got shivers every time he saw anything that resembled a fox. Talk about childhood phobias.

Giggling at the raging fox, she gave him a light kiss on the head as they continued on their climb to meet the Titan, "Thank you Kurama-san."

"Keh! I'm not doing this for you! I'm just… just… just upset that, you know, a good girl like you has to do all the work!" Naruto would be the first one to tell you that Kurama was a bit of a tsundere.

"I know, and that's why I said 'thank you'."

"Well… well good!"

A peaceful silence continued for a few moments before Kurama started again, "But yeah, why do we have to rush?"

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"Ah-choo!" A certain Prince had been sneezing non-stop for the past few minutes.

"SHHHHH!" Which really wasn't ideal when you were supposed to be following a Behemoth.

"Oi Noctis, don't tell me you're catching a cold? I didn't train you to become a weakling who doesn't know how to take care of his own body."

"Did you forget to put on a blanket before you slept last night?"

"Shut up! I'm not a kid oi, just leave me alone! Someone must be talking about me!"

"Ooooh, maybe it's Lunafreya-sama!"

 _Urgh, knowing my luck, it's probably that crazy fox she's got with her… argh, let's not go there…_

"Yeah right. I still don't see what she sees in this sorry ass."

Before Noctis could retort that he _wasn't_ some 'sorry ass', Ignis gave the next instruction.

"Gladiolus, take point, we're about to reach the clearing."

"Gotcha."

It had taken them _ages_ to finally follow Deadeye back to its resting place. With all the fog in place, it wasn't too difficult to follow but it sure took a while. On the plus side, Prompto did manage to take a few photos when the lighting allowed, so at the very least, they'll have something to commemorate this trip with and something to talk about when they meet up with Iris.

"Man, that's a lot of barrels." The beast had finally stopped as it reached its destination, which was really just a cliff that it seemed to use as its bed. However, all around the place, were oil barrels scattered haphazardly.

"Hm…" Noctis rubbed his chin as his mind came to a quick conclusion, "So Ignis, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We've got some barbeque sauce in the car." As expected of the tactician, simple and precise answers always.

"Gladio, you mind tanking the hit for us?"

"Only if I get the biggest serving." Cue roll of eyes.

"You get the biggest serving every time anyway, since you're the biggest out of all of us."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!" With a wave of his hand, his trusted Greatsword shimmered into view.

"Prompto, make sure you get a nice photo when the fireworks go off, yeah?"

"Leave it to me, Noctis!"

"Let's see, how many magic flasks have we got again?"

"About five."

"Cool. Alright, let's move out."

Thus, began the hunt for Deadeye, also known as Operation: Dinner.

"Have we got some mayonnaise too?"

~ ***** XV ***** ~

He had been meditating for quite some time now, and it just felt good to be able to _feel_ Nature once more. Heavens know it took way too long before he reached this point, not to mention all the stuff he had to work on before he got back to this stage, but it was worth it.

Nyx was still resting and Crowe was in her room, working on a few of the scrolls he gave her. Now that she couldn't rely on the King's magic, she needed to somehow harness the elemental energies in order to fulfill the 'mage' role in the team. With the Empire owning all sorts of anti-magic armor, it wasn't a bad idea to not be able to use 'magic'. No one said anything about melting them with fire though. The 'magic' that the Empire were used to was different to the 'elements' that Naruto was used to. He had discovered that fact quite early on.

The problem was him not being able to figure out _what_ exactly was different. The elements in this world just didn't feel right. He couldn't even get in touch with Nature when he first arrived in this place. Everything was just off, in terms of feel. He could use chakra (thank goodness), but he could only use it to enhance himself. He could barely hold a Rasengan for five seconds to start off.

It wasn't even his control though. There was something else at work that was dissipating any energy that he exuded. It almost felt like decay, only at a way faster rate. His chakra was being dissolved in thin air somehow, and he couldn't figure out why.

Luckily for him, he still had his Taijutsu, speed and Fuinjutsu, so he was still badass, but against infinite numbers of robots, there was only so much Taijutsu could do before he tired out. He wasn't even exaggerating, the Empire literally had infinite numbers of robots. They were somehow able to pump out one every second it felt like. On top of that, he had killed the Chancellor in every way imaginable over the last few years but the guy would just regenerate using that disgusting energy of his and look perfectly normal the next minute.

Like what was up with that? He had fought immortals before but this was just sad.

Make no mistake, he made sure that insufferable asshole didn't get any satisfaction either, because he never once suffered any injury from the Chancellor himself. Any cuts, grazes and scars were only because he was overwhelmed by the robots. It was a good thing anti-magic fields don't work on his Hiraishin seals, because otherwise, he would have been mince-meat on quite a number of occasions.

In every encounter so far, half the frustration was having to go through dozens and dozens of robots before even being able to reach the Chancellor, the other half was obviously having the Chancellor revive _every single time_. He had stopped bothering to try since a few years ago, preferring instead to try and figure out how to combat the Chancellor's ability. Why waste time tackling a problem you couldn't solve? It wasn't like they could catch him anyway.

He was labeled 'MIA' after he actively cut off communications with Lucis. It was the easiest way to send Regis the signal. The Chancellor knew what his chakra felt like now and seemed to be a good sensor. Had he rushed back to Lucis, then the war would have started too early. He couldn't really send a letter either, since the Empire pretty much controls the entire mail service. Kurama was stationed with Lunafreya at all times so he couldn't use him (not that Kurama would have agreed to doing it anyway). He would rather not risk using Umbra and Pryna if possible since he was pretty sure the Chancellor knows about the 'messaging' that was going on between Luna and Noctis. Though why he chose to let that happen was beyond him at this point.

By the King's order, Cor had been trying to locate him ever since, but he knew it was just Regis' way of keeping him out of harm's way. The Lucis King needed Cor to be there for Noctis when he eventually took over the throne.

"Sigh… If only I had Shikamaru to break it all down for me, then I wouldn't have to use my brain so much." Rubbing his eyes as he came out of meditation, the blond gave a yawn as he took in the sunset.

"I didn't know you had a brain." A teasing voice sounded behind him as a breeze of iciness saturated the area.

"Gee, thanks Gentiana. Love you too." Turning around to face the Glacial Queen, the blond deadpanned, "It's good to feel appreciated by you."

"I aim to please." Her emerald eyes twinkled in amusement before she gave him a light hug, "It's good to see you again."

Grinning, Naruto returned the hug with an extra 'oomph' by lifting her off the ground and spinning her in circles, eliciting delighted laughter from the goddess, "Oh you rascal, put me down."

Needless to say, the blond didn't comply with her wishes and the spinning continued. Neither seemed to mind though, because it had been some time since they've seen each other. Gentiana knew where he was but understood how important it was for him to solve the problem by himself. Naruto knew that as well and was grateful for her trusting him in the process.

"Did you miss me?"

"Still cheeky as ever, I see."

"So, that's a yes?" Cerulean eyes filled with mirth as he stared into those emerald orbs, "Oooh, have I finally managed to 'unfreeze' you?"

Shaking her head at the only male since Ifrit to have the audacity to flirt with her, she flicked him on the nose playfully, before whispering in affection, "Not a chance."

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"I can't believe you guys actually did it! Thank you so much!" To say Wiz was happy was an understatement. These young kids weren't half bad! He hadn't held much hope when they said they would take the hunt and was honestly quite worried when they still weren't back by dusk, but when they appeared with huge chunks of meat behind them and a photo to show the dead Behemoth, he was beyond ecstatic!

"No, we should be thanking you for letting us use your cooking facilities, we really appreciate it." Polite and impeccable as ever, Ignis gave the man a charming smile.

"Yeah! Thanks old man! This meat tastes _gooood_!" Prompto was busy shoving as much food down his throat as possible considering he hadn't eaten anything since that morning.

"Welp, it has been awhile since we had barbecue, so I guess this trip was worth it after all." Gladiolus chugged down a mug of booze as he eyed the chunk of meat in front of them, "But damn, with the number of explosions that happened, I didn't think we need to cook it anymore."

When they had engaged Deadeye, it was a simple tactic. Gladiolus had aggroed it, drawing its entire attention onto him, before smashing its head in with Dawnhammer to stun it temporarily. Ignis and Noctis proceeded to rain triple-casting Fira down on its ass using their magical flasks and when the oil barrels around them exploded upon combustion, Prompto was ready with his camera to take down the beautiful display.

Great teamwork that led to a one hundred to zero combo. Very satisfying indeed.

"Haha! Well then, since Deadeye has been taken care of, I'm happy to say that Rent-a-Chocobo is back in service! Since you guys were so kind to help us out, the first seven days will be free of charge!"

"Whoa really?! Ano sa, ano sa! Can we pick which Chocobos to use?" Needless to say, the blond was the most excited of the bunch since he was the one to suggest even coming here in the first place.

"Of course you can! I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you too! Feel free to visit them after your meal!"

"YAY! Did you hear that Noctis?! We can choose our very own Chocobos!"

"Calm down you idiot," Said Prince could only laugh at the enthusiasm his friend was currently exuding, "They're not really 'ours', you know that right?"

"Detail, details! Who cares! Oh, I'm so excited!"

"Baaaaka, weren't you just saying how tired you were an hour ago? Where is all this energy coming from?"

"Chocobo is love! Chocobo is life!"

"Here we go again…" Gladiolus shared a similar look of exasperation with Ignis, before both started laughing along with the rest of the group.

In that moment, they all forgot the pain and sorrow that had plagued the crew for the last few days, if only for a little while. This reminded them that whatever pain may come, it seemed that at the end of the day, they would be just fine.

"Ah! Gladio! You're hogging all the good stuff to yourself!"

"Of course! We agreed I would get the biggest serving, right?"

"Are you kidding me, that's _way_ too big!"

"Prompto, you're going to choke if you keep that pace up."

"Wah? No, I'm fwine. Nom nom nom."

"Ignis! Don't just sit there, help me wrestle this big guy!"

"Yare, yare."

 _Yes, everything will be just fine._

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _No I won't be afraid, just as long as you stand by me_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _ **A/N: Mainly backstory. Will elaborate more on Naruto & Kurama next chap. **_

_**Leave a review for your thoughts. Cheers guys.**_


	3. Chapter 2: Reassurance

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 2: Reassurance**

Amaterasu-ōmikami, also known to some as Ōhirume-no-muchi-no-kami, was seen to be not only the Goddess of the Sun, but also Goddess of the Universe as well. Legends had it that she painted the landscape of the world with her brothers Susanoo and Tsukuyomi. Beloved by all, she was the epitome of serenity and peace, and of course, the symbol of absolute power.

So to say Naruto was surprised to meet said Goddess in person would be a huge understatement. Well, "in person" might not be completely accurate seeing how he wasn't technically 'alive' at that point. He had lived a fulfilling life, what with all the adventures he had and the crazy number of enemies he had to either defeat/befriend/absolutely destroy on his way to becoming Hokage. Being the leader of the village wasn't all that exciting since paperwork would always be there and when you're the hero of the entire world, pretty much everything you say goes.

Boruto and Himawari grew up to be fine shinobi under his proud eyes and his beloved wife Hinata was there with him to witness their every step. It was always going to be a lingering pain in his heart that his parents did not get the same luxury as him in this respect, but with the help of his family, he would overcome that pain and transform it into love for them.

A good eighty or so years went by, there really wasn't much left for him to do. Boruto had long since taken over the mantle and Himawari had retired from the frontlines, choosing to settle down with her family as well. Hinata had unfortunately passed away just last year, but at least she was content with how her life turned out and didn't have any regrets.

With Asura's chakra within him, along with his trainings as a Sage, it was pretty much guaranteed for him to live easily to the age of three hundred or so. However, in Naruto's mind, there really was no point to go that long, because he could see with his eyes that the new generation had already carried on the Will of Fire, and the peace that they all worked so hard to achieve would continue on at least for the next century or so.

Besides, it wasn't exactly the best feeling in the world when you didn't look a year older than forty when you're actually almost a hundred years old. Most of his other friends had also passed away, some of them due to missions, some due to natural causes. Kurama had retreated to join up with the other Bijuus for their annual meeting to catch up on world events and he was currently staying at Mt. Myoboku, meditating as he pondered about what to do next.

The Lifestream would be quite receptive of him if he were to just choose to pass on, though he wasn't sure if Boruto and Himawari would be really happy with him should he make that choice.

 _Hm… Decisions, decisions._

Time passed by quickly as he sunk deep into his 'zen state' as Kurama had jokingly called it. He didn't need to eat or drink since the energy in his body was more than enough to sustain him, so those were more luxuries than anything. Interacting with Nature was slightly more complicated than most would expect. After all, who could understand the language of the Earth? Would anyone be able to discern the language of the trees? What about the rain? What were they trying to convey? Or the Sun? What blessings was she trying to bestow when the sunlight grazes gently over your skin?

To some, it could be disconcerting, having a million voices sounding in your head at the same time. But when the 'language' barrier no longer becomes an issue, and your mind is clear enough to decipher each and every message that was being conveyed every moving second, it was really quite the refreshing experience.

You learn much more from Nature, understanding her pain, her sorrow, her tears.

You enjoy Nature for what she's done, understanding her joys, her delights and her happiness.

What is life? What does it mean to live?

What is death? What does it mean to die?

Over the years, given his duties as a Sage, it was Naruto's responsibility to really get into those sort of questions so as to better understand the course of Nature. Traditionally, Sages would lose their emotions, considering they had an understanding of pretty much _everything_ ; nothing could really surprise them.

If you knew death was but the start of another journey, would you mourn for them if you could see their soul entering the lifestream for a second chance, one that promised a much happier lifetime?

If you knew birth was a chance of redemption, one of a million possibilities that were all pretty much visible to you, would you still show joy knowing every single outcome that individual might end with?

For some people, probably not. For Naruto, the answer was quite simply, 'Yes'.

Finding the balance of juggling the knowledge, maintaining your emotions and living your normal life was quite the chore for him, but hey, what was life without a few challenges? Certainly beats sitting at your desk and signing paperwork all day! (Not that he did that anyway, a different unfortunate Kage Bunshin would sort that out for him each day).

The key to sorting your 'life' out when it was this complicated, was meditation. Yes, the kid that was once running all over the place and screaming at the top of his lungs whilst playing pranks on everyone he saw was now meditating on a daily basis. Scary what growing up does to you, eh?

In any case, he was just doing the same thing he had done over and over when he was interrupted within his inner world. A voice seemed to be reaching out to him and was intriguing, because he could not understand the language that was being conveyed to him. Now that was a shock in itself. What was more interesting was the fact that it felt very distant, very faint, which again, was completely irregular because when he was one with Nature, everything felt like they were right next to him.

It felt like that voice was calling out to him, summoning him to a faraway place that had no business in this world. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize that the voice was calling him from the Lifestream, the place where souls go once their owners pass away.

 _Maybe Hinata…? Hm, not likely, but who else would bother…?_

He dwelled on it for a few moments before deciding that he didn't have anything better to do anyway, and 'took the plunge'. See, one didn't just enter the Lifestream. As mentioned previously, that was the place where souls went. You had to be _dead_ to go there

As a Sage, Naruto was able to temporarily separate his soul from his body to travel almost as a separate conscience, which in this case, proved useful. It didn't change the fact that there was always a chance that his soul wouldn't return to his body in time and he could in turn lose himself within the consciousness of millions of other souls, but hey, where would the fun be if a few risks weren't involved?

 _Well, hopefully it's Hinata. If it isn't then… I'm pretty sure she'll kill me for doing this wherever she is right now…_

It took a bit of searching as he flowed along with the hands of time through the bountiful souls of the Lifestream, but in the end, he managed to locate it. Imagine his surprise when he came face to face with the avatar of Amaterasu.

It was quite anti-climactic, now that he thought about it. There wasn't any holy revelation or crazy dramatic reveal. The voice he had been hearing calmly explained who she was, which was quite creepy since the mouth her Avatar didn't move at all, but anyway, she continued on as though meeting a divine deity such as herself was a common occurrence!

As thick as Naruto was, he still heard the legends about a Goddess such as herself and after facing Kaguya himself, he couldn't even begin to compare the difference between the two. The one he fought was so animated in her beliefs, so cocky and arrogant and so determined to prove her power.

This one currently before him felt…bland, in a way? The avatar herself didn't look all that special. She was a beautiful lady, dressed in a snowy white gown with ribbons flowing at the back of her outfit. Her posture was prim and proper, as one would expect and her eyes were closed the entire time. She was the epitome of regal, if there ever was one and yet, her presence felt like any other person walking down the street. It was very unsettling to say the least.

" _So you're_ that _Goddess. Like you actually exist…?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Huh. Ok. Right. So can I ask…?"_

" _Things have to run their course. Every being is born for a reason; Kaguya chose her path, and so have you."_

" _Erm… okay."_

That conversation felt too much like the first one had with Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. That guy had been so blasé about everything, honestly, it was just so weird, not to mention his 'dignified' way of speaking.

" _So whatcha need?"_

One could never say Uzumaki Naruto was not quick to adapt to any scenario. There were probably a lot of other questions that should have been asked before that one, but his mind had already jumped through quite a few stages of thought and had arrived at the obvious question to ask. A Goddess didn't just call for you to have a chat about your afternoon tea.

Though he had to admit it was quite unnerving for him to hear a chuckle in his head but see no emotion whatsoever on her avatar. Like what was up with that?!

" _I need your help."_

Whoa, hold up. _The_ Amaterasu needed _his_ help?

" _A child of prophecy has been chosen in world doomed for darkness."_

Blink. Blink.

" _He is the only hope for light to be restored."_

Huh.

" _Day after day, night after night, desperate pleas for assistance would come to me for the safety of said child."_

Ho ho, no surprise there.

" _The pleas are from the Oracle of that world, a girl possessing the ability to commune with Gods and Goddesses."_

Fascinating.

" _I am unable to provide any assistance for her personally, yet it would not do for us to disappoint a soul as pure as hers."_

Uh huh.

" _See for yourself, the fate of that world."_

" _Er, no thanks, I'm actually quite happy with my own – "_

Needless to say, the Goddess didn't really care for his response as an onslaught of images flashed through his head.

He saw the aforementioned girl, a boy and their respective fates. In some ways, it was really relatable, and in others, not so much. But regardless of that, it didn't change the fact that he was now intrigued.

Hinata had always called it his 'hero' complex. If he saw someone needed assistance, and it was within his power to do something, he would always want to help out. It didn't matter if it was a big issue or a small one, Naruto would always lend a helping hand. According to him, number one, it was the right thing to do; number two, it was a good chance to challenge yourself and number three, it was a great way to create bonds with others. On the odd occasion, you might even convert the enemy into an ally! His track record spoke for himself.

" _They need a hero to help them. What do you say, Uzumaki Naruto?"_

"And that's how she got me into this whole mess." Naruto sighed as he rested his head against the ground, staring up at the bright moon in the sky.

Gentiana chuckled as she sat next to him, "I don't believe she could have made you come here unwillingly though, could she?"

Shaking his head ruefully, he shrugged, "Sadly, no. Though sometimes I do wonder if coming here was the right choice." Closing his eyes, he continued, "Regardless of what the endings were according to her visions, this world was saved in the end. It might not have been the best ending but hey, at least the evil dude did get eradicated at the end."

The Ice Queen smiled serenely, "And?"

"But now that I've joined this world and completely changed like a billion things, there is a chance that hey, I've actually screwed up more than I've done good and this world might actually be doomed now." The blond looked over to his companion, "Like seriously, are you not even the least bit worried?"

Gentiana leaned over and gave him a light tap to the face, "What do you think?"

Time seemed to stand still as cerulean orbs met emerald, neither saying a thing before Naruto grimaced, "I think you're way too smart for your own good."

Time was slowly running out for Eos, and the addition of Kurama and himself may well have steered the gears of Fate in a completely different direction, for better or for worse.

For him, it was a legitimate worry. The first time he had fought Ardyn, it had taken him somewhat by surprise. He was first surprised by how easy it was to kill him. Time stoppage and all that nonsense didn't do anything for him, and so he had just sliced his head off, thinking, hey, that was easy. Then the Chancellor just regenerated his head back. Well, shit. That was the second surprise.

Till now, he could not figure out the reason for the regen. He had searched high and low in the entire Empire for a device that was maybe the strength to Ardyn, but he knew it wouldn't be that simple. No machine could give you your head back in a few seconds. It wasn't even an illusion as well, it was actually a physical head. So, that made it even more confusing.

It didn't hit him until the last few years that Ardyn was the source of the disgusting essence he had felt since he arrived in this world. He couldn't connect with 'Nature' in this place. He couldn't get in touch with anything when he first tried to gather energy. There was an evil, a darkness that stank everywhere he went, and it was extremely unsettling for both himself and Kurama, which was saying a lot.

He had spent a number of years getting used to the 'elements', as they called it in Eos, understood what was causing the blockage to his abilities and came back stronger than ever.

Ardyn wasn't even the ultimate boss. It was the Starscourge. That was the source of the daemons. The Niflheim Chancellor was somehow powering that cloud of photosynthetic organisms to do his bidding. His chakra was considered to be 'bright energy' for those organisms, and they lapped it up like crazed insects the moment he exuded any. He had to reinvent the feel of his chakra and get it in tune with Nature of Eos to make sure it didn't feel 'external' in a way. Lunafreya's magic was able to keep these organisms at bay for a reason. The actions of those organisms could be stopped but at what price?

The Oracles never survive for too long, because of the physical toll their bodies undergo due to the constant need to suppress the Starscourge. Lunafreya was no different, with her body weakening as the days go by. That was the reason why Kurama had to stay with the Princess, to ensure she had a constant stream of life force running through her body to help alleviate the stress of the magic she needed to wield.

The simple way would have been to charge in now with Kurama and bijuudama the shit out of the Empire, but it would mean nothing if the Starscourge kept coming. Granted, Naruto and Kurama still had every intention to show Niflheim and their precious robots (who the heck came up with the stupid name Magitek infantry anyway) that their 'elemental resistance' meant nothing in the face of their attacks, but now was not the right time.

Knowledge is power. He knew that, he knew that very well after surviving the final war against Madara and Kaguya. He knew it even better after becoming Hokage and having to play some mind games himself. Oh yes, he knew.

Now was the time for strategy, not raw power. Time was running out slowly as Kurama had sent him a signal that they were about to reach the Titan soon, meaning their next target would be Ramuh, the Thunder God. It would only be matter of time before the Oracle would head for Altissia, aiming to meet up with Leviathan, the Hydrean. He was pretty certain based on his information from a certain Empire insider that their army was indeed prepping in advance for battles with the Astrals.

This action alone gave off quite an alarming signal. Ardyn seemed to know a lot about the Astrals and understood the risks of forming covenants with them and was basically betting that they would be able to either stop Noctis or worse, stop Lunafreya in one of those covenant-forming moments.

"Won't be the Titan." Naruto counted off the deities as his mind worked furiously, "They won't get there in time for Ramuh. Tsk, he's going to go for the kill in Altissia."

The Archaean, based on his knowledge, liked humans, given his act of supporting the meteor when it first fell onto Eos. His task for forming the covenant would most likely be a test of strength in one form or another. Kurama will look after Lunafreya, so no worries there.

The Fulgurian was the perfect image of wisdom and foresight, thus knowing the importance of preserving humanity. Noctis should have no trouble forming a pact with Ramuh.

Gentiana has always been particularly fond of mortals, serving as the counterpart to the Oracle's role, acting as a messenger from the gods to the humans. She has guided both the Princess and the Prince on their respective journeys, for she too, knew what was to come. When the time arrived, she would gladly use her powers to aid them.

That's three out of six Astrals sorted. The remaining three was where the problem lied.

Leviathan, the Hydrean, hated humans. She was an intelligent woman and did have an open mind, but she still believed humans to be beneath the gods and should anyone be foolish enough to try and use her power, they would really need to prove themselves; otherwise she would simply raise havoc and destruction upon the foolish mortals.

Ifrit absolutely _despised_ humans, going so far as to fight a war with the other Astrals on the decision of how to handle the mortals. It was unlikely that Lunafreya would be able to find him since no one had been able to locate his presence for the last fifty years or so. Besides, given his hatred, it would really be a cold day in hell if he were to offer his assistance to Noctis.

Bahamut was an unknown factor. The King of the Dragons was rumoured to be impartial at all times, choosing to judge each case by itself. He was the epitome of power and fights for justice, alas, no one knew where he was either. Otherwise, he would have been a great Astral for Noctis and his crew to form a pact with.

Given the above information, it made perfect sense for Ardyn to plan his attack in Altissia. In the midst of the chaos that would most inevitably occur, it would be quite easy to pick off either one of the two. The Princess would most likely be tired from the awakening ritual, whereas the Prince would have his hands full trying to fight an angered Leviathan. If either one were to perish…

"Naruto." Her soft voice shook him out of his thoughts as she smiled, "It'll be fine."

Running his hand through his hair in frustration, he shook his head, "I know that. I know that."

"Listen to me." Holding his face between her palms gently, she placed a kiss on his forehead as she pulled him into her embrace once more, "It'll be fine."

Met with such tenderness, Naruto really had no choice but to relax, "I love them both, Gentiana."

"I know." The Ice Queen smiled proudly as she continued to soothe him, "Do you not believe in them?"

"Oh for heaven's sake, woman! Stop asking these rhetorical questions, you're making me look all weak and useless." Growling playfully, he leaned back and 'escaped' her arms, "I'm just –"

"Worried. I know."

There it was again. This woman just knew him way too well. The only reason she chose to come visit him tonight was because she knew he would think too much.

"I see them both as my children, Gentiana." The blond sighed, "I know I'm acting paranoid but I just can't help it."

"Such wise words from an old man like you." Again with the teasing.

"Alright, alright, I get your point. I'm fine now." Sulking, he turned away from the Ice Queen and brooded, "You can stop bullying me."

Her silky voice echoed with laughter in the clearing as she took in the image of the Hero acting like a child throwing a tantrum. This man just never failed to amuse her! One second, he would be the most serious person and then he could become this playful kid!

"Are you implying that a helpless lady like me is oppressing you?"

"Exactly. I can't believe you've done this to me, Gentiana. It's absolutely atrocious. I've lost all confidence now and I'm telling you, there is a big possibility of me jumping off the cliff in the next five minutes."

Warmth replaced the cold night air as her arms wrapped around him once again, "Well, we can't let that happen, can we?" Playfully nuzzling his hair, the Ice Queen whispered, "Whatever can I do to make it up to you?"

"Stand by me." A simple request, from a genuine man. She had no reason not to comply.

Closing her eyes as she rested on his broad shoulders, with memories of their time together since he arrived in Eos, she whispered with amore, "Always."

In response, Naruto chuckled, "Then that is all the confidence I need."

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"Whew! What a long day it has been today!" Prompto exclaimed as he helped Ignis set the table for their dinner.

"I blame Noctis for that. Man, all that time wasted on trying to get that random as fish for that old man when we could have been travelling to Lestallum." Gladiolus grumbled as he brought the food out to the table.

"Hey hey hey, it wasn't like we would have made significant progress today anyway." The Prince retorted as he sat down for the meal, "Besides, if it weren't for me, we might not even have food on the table!"

"Unfortunately, he is right in this case, Gladio." Ignis took off his apron as he joined the crew, "We were running quite low on food supplies, so it was a good thing that Noctis managed to procure some fish fillets for us."

"Heh heh!" Proudly puffing his chest out, he proceeded to taunt Gladiolus about him being a sis-con and that he couldn't wait to see his 'precious little sister', which of course resulted in a good old strangle hold from the buff man.

Life was good for the four of them as they camped just off the coasts of Alstor Slough.

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"I do have a theory I want to run past you."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this whole thing about the Starscourge, it didn't actually exist until after the Astral war, right?"

"…Yes."

"The war was about making a decision on humanity and how you gods and goddesses were going to interact with them moving forward, right?"

"That is correct."

"From what I've gathered, there was really only one god that really lost in that war."

"Go on."

"Would it be too cynical of me to believe that there is a _slight_ chance that he was the one who created the Starscourge?"

"…No, no it would not." Gentiana sighed as she shook her head.

"It would make sense, right? Considering his powers, generating parasitic organisms should be easy. On top of that, the whole purpose of the organisms is to convert humans and other monsters into daemons, that would fit in perfectly with his agenda of erasing the human race."

"I've had my suspicions for quite some time, but I've yet to find proof of it." The Ice Queen shrugged, "Considering how he has been hiding from us all this time, chances are he's merely bidding his time as humanity weakens, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. He's always been like that, cunning and ruthless. Quite the despicable man too."

Naruto grinned at that, "I'm surprised you didn't freeze his ass when he tried to make a move on you."

Gentiana laughed, "Yes, it was very tempting, but it wouldn't have worked. We're opposite elements to one another, so even if I freeze him, he would simply break out of it using his flames. He knew that, which was why he was cocky about his advances."

"Well, if I ever see him, I'll make sure to punch him right in the face for you."

"Why, thank you. What more could a lady ask for?"

"Oh, I don't know," Naruto grinned mischievously, "I could burn him for you. I'm sure Kurama won't mind. He's been itching to show the world what true Hellfire looks like."

"Hm, Touché."

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"A-ACHOO!"

"Oh, are you okay, Kurama-san?" Lunafreya asked in surprise as she pulled the fox closer to her, "Are you cold?"

"No, no, no. I can't get sick; it's physically impossible. Someone must be talking about … A-A-ACHOO!"

"Oh dear, it does seem rather bad."

"Damn it, when I get my hands on him, A-a-a-a-CHOO!"

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"What have you got planned next?"

"Eh, I was thinking of sneaking into an Imperial Base and nabbing a couple of those fancy Magitek suits they make. Gotta make sure Nyx and Crowe are well protected when they go to Altissia with me."

"Do you intend for them to guard Luna?"

"A little bit of extra protection never hurts. They would be able to blend in far better than I could. As far as Ardyn is concerned, the episode of Insomnia is long over. He wouldn't be on the lookout for these two. Besides, who knows what that stupid brother of hers is currently up to; best to play it safe in any case."

"Ooooh, sibling bias?"

"It's true and you know it. That kid has always been too stubborn for his own good. Hopefully, he's seen the error of his ways and realized that his sister is the most important person to him left on this world."

"You're not going to have a chat with him?"

"If I see him, I might just deck him in the face, so probably not."

"Such violence."

"Only when they deserve it."

Gentiana chuckled at the pout on Naruto's face, "You're such an endearing person, aren't you?"

The blond snorted, "Amen to that. Speaking of which, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to pay an old friend a visit." The mysterious smile on her face grew, "He's been expecting me for the last few days now. I'm sure he'll understand my delay."

"Alright then, say hi to Luna for me when you see her." Naruto got up alongside her as he dusted himself off.

"Not even going to show a little bit of jealousy?" This woman just won't stop the teasing.

"Puh-lease, why would I be jealous of an old man? Granted, he can smite me from anywhere with his gigantic staff that is clearly not compensating for anything, but hey, I'll just need to wear a layer of extremely thick and heat-resistant rubber and I'll be fine."

"I'll be sure to tell him to test that theory out."

"Wonderful, did I tell you how much I love you?" The deadpan is real. It might as well be a permanent emotion plastered on his face.

"I believe you did, just a while ago."

"Yet you're going to sentence me to my death?"

"A man should be able to bear the consequences of his words, wasn't that what you told me before?"

"Sigh… if that's the case, before I die to electrocution by an act of god, can I at least get a kiss from you?"

For a moment, it seemed as though she would oblige as she drew dangerously close to his lips, her eyes twinkling with adoration, her fingers raising to cup his cheeks… before tapping him on the nose in mischief and fading away into frost, "Maybe next time." Her joyous laughter echoed through the area, showing pride in a prank well played, and an exuberant side of her that few have ever seen.

Rubbing his nose that was now covered in snow, he grumbled, "Sure, next time. How many next times has it been since I've met her."

He didn't really have time to dwell on it as Crowe's voice rang out shortly after, "Hey Leader! Dinner's ready!"

Ah well, there will be plenty of other opportunities in the future. A confident grin grew on his lips as he started making his way back to their cottage, "Alright, I'm coming back in."

 _Let's go see if our dear Captain of the famed Niflheim Third Army's Airborne units will know where to get some good armour for my lovely subordinates._

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _When the night has come_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _ **A/N: Had a busy weekend. In any case, here you go. Cheers guys.**_


	4. Chapter 3: Preparation

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 3: Preparation**

Nyx couldn't remember the last time he had to swim this much. He had managed a speedy recovery over the last couple of days and straight off the bat, his 'training' began. He was expecting something along the lines of physical combat or weapons training but nope, it was endurance training. It wasn't like he didn't see it coming, since he had to swim his way to Altissia. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to change Naruto's mind about that particular decision so he had to convince himself that the blond knew what he was doing.

There had to be a reason why they couldn't use a ship. There just _had_ to be one. Probably something to do with security, though that didn't make any sense either because Altissia had their own ways to monitor their borders and they could detect _any_ lifeforms within a large radius of their city. Maybe Leader had a way to bypass the security? But how would he be able to do that when even the Empire hadn't been able to? Not that they needed to since they had the overwhelming advantage when it came to military power, but still.

As long as the reason wasn't something like, "Because it's fun to watch you guys suffer", he would be fine with anything. Crowe had already given up and had started 'water training' as she called it whilst he was recovering. Libertus was currently monitoring their swimming since he couldn't participate in any physical activities just yet. Instead, his 'job' was to fire pellets at targets that were taped to the other two remaining members of the glaives whilst they swum laps within a confined area of the sea.

The goal was to basically up his aim on moving targets. It wasn't as easy as it sounded because it was on targets moving in the sea. Sea waves were quite irregular in their patterns already, and on top of that, you had two people causing more waves to disrupt the original pattern as they raced across the surface? The targets weren't gigantic bullseyes, they were small circles colored differently on parts of the torso and limbs. The firing was to make them more aware of their surroundings, training their muscle memories so that when push came to shove, their bodies would react before their minds and possibly save them from death. On the other hand, Libertus could practice his aim as well, making it a win-win scenario.

It was a relatively simple exercise to start off, but all three of them did their best to achieve their respective goals. Naruto had briefed them all on his understanding of the current state, what he expected to happen, what their mission was and how they needed to prepare for it. They all knew Prince Noctis was pretty much the savior of the world and Princess Lunafreya was on a solo journey to assist him. If either of the two perished, there would literally be hell to pay. Monsters were bad enough as it was, they didn't need more daemons to screw the world over as well.

Secretly, they each had their doubts about their abilities. Nyx knew the limits of his fighting style now that he couldn't 'blink' anymore using the King's magic, and as good as he believed he was with hand to hand combat, it really wasn't going to do much against a hundred magitek infantries.

Crowe was the head of the glaives that had the best compatibility with area-of-effect magic prior to her being ambushed by that scumbag Luche. That hollowpoint bullet _really hurt_ and had Leader not been there to rescue her in time, she would have surely perished. It had apparently screwed up her body's natural ability to harness the elemental energy, though Naruto had assured her that she would return to her usual form in just a few days. Her body just needed to readjust itself and heal from within before she could regain that magic control. Even without the King's magic, it was discovered early on by Naruto that Crowe had the ability to wield the elemental energies that was present across the land of Eos. This was prior to them being aided by the King's magic, which said a lot. The power of Magic was supposedly granted to the Lucis Family by the Gods and yet here was this little girl who was driven out of her village for stealing, with that same ability?

After some trial and testing, Naruto concluded that her talent was slightly different. The Lucis family could harvest energy from Elemental deposits and wield them in any shape and form they wished, on top of having the ability to store spells in specific flasks for later use. Crowe could only harvest energies that she could 'feel' around her and had to use them immediately. There was none of that 'storing' possibility for her. She just didn't know how. Nevertheless, her sense of the elemental energies was excellent, which was why she got promoted to the Head of the 'Mage Glaives' as they called them.

Libertus was not so much worried for his leg, it was going to get better for sure. Whilst there was no such thing as instant recovery, or at least not yet, he had an opportunity to better his other skills. What bothered him was the thought that his 'map awareness' as Naruto had jokingly called it was pretty bad. His control over his emotions wasn't that good either, meaning there would be plenty of times where he would rush in more than a bit over his head, thereby placing his comrades in difficult positions.

Naruto understood exactly where he was coming from, with himself being the victim of the exhilaration of battle multiple times throughout his life. It wasn't that they were doing it on purpose; there were just times in battle where you felt like you had to do _something_ to help. That desire to impact the outcome of the battle would burn through any logical thinking in a second, which of course, would often lead to brain farts that could cost you the victory. For a brawler like Naruto, he definitely understood it very well.

That didn't mean Libertus couldn't improve himself though. He was a man of hard work, with ample drive and motivation to do what he can to not become a 'liability' for his team. He didn't need to be the hero and get all flashy, they had Nyx for that. He needed to become the stable presence of the team, the 'rock' if you will, to protect them in the midst of danger, to allow them that moment of reprieve before they launched into combat once again.

He needed to focus, hence the 'sniping' practice he was working on now. He needed to stay reign in his anger and direct it in the right direction, which meant meditation sessions with Naruto. He needed to improve his body's flexibility whilst strengthening his core, so Yoga was added to his recovery schedule. Libertus had complete faith that Leader knew exactly how to help him improve and never questioned his suggestions.

The blond had done nothing but given him sound advice throughout his life, and he wasn't going to start doubting the man now. He had witnessed firsthand the many wonders 'The Flash' had brought about, the victories he had created from the claws of defeat against NIflheim on many occasions. His presence alone brought confidence and joy to his allies on the battlefield; this was the man Libertus had always aspired to be; someone who others could rely on at all times.

With their group, the roles were quite straightforward. If this was a role-playing game, Nyx would be the rogue, Crowe would be the mage and Libertus would be the tank. That was sort of the vision Naruto had for the team when he assembled them together. In time, Nyx became sort of a hybrid whilst Libertus also tried his hand at Rogue once blinking once made possible. Crowe wanted to also learn about healing since there was no way in hell she could entrust that job to the boys. Heaven knows how much more reckless those two would be if they knew they could just heal themselves up in a pinch.

The annoying thing was that there really wasn't any 'healing' magic, so to speak. You could add healing properties to the magic using specific materials, but it was more in the form of minor healing. If you wanted to set your injuries straight, potions and elixirs were the way to go. Why would you waste time and energy crafting a weird 'healcast' Firaga that would pretty much decimate your own team as well if they were caught in the blast radius, thereby making the 'healing' it does negligible when you could simply buy a potion for fifty gil?

Hence why Crowe used her time to look up ways to more effectively use restorative items instead, delving into the realms of alchemy to try and better herself for the sake of the team. The look on their faces when she somehow managed to apply the effects of a potion on them both by just using one capsule of it was something she would never forget.

They each knew what they had to do to get better and they knew that time wasn't on their side. Their Leader had reassured them that he would have the proper 'tools' for them soon, hence why they need to work on their physical abilities first. Apparently, he had a theory he wanted to test first, and if it did work, then they needed to really up their stamina for prolonged uses of their weapons. No matter how much Crowe pestered him, he wouldn't let up even the slightest bit of information. Though again, Nyx had a feeling that the only reason he did it was because he enjoyed watching Crowe's pout. He had to admit it was quite a refreshing sight. Not to mention it brought back memories of the cute little girl back when they were young.

His life for the past month had been a huge whirlwind of events. To go from being demoted to a mere guard at the Gates of Insomnia, to being the Princess' escort, to fighting traitors in a death battle, to being saved by his Leader who he thought was dead ages ago, to now swimming in the sea. You just can't make this stuff up. Shit really did hit the fan and he somehow got out of it pretty much unscathed (though Crowe and Libertus would vehemently disagree). Life really was filled with surprises.

 _Just go with the flow Nyx, just go with the flow._

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"That was way too close." Prompto gasped as he landed on all four after barely making it into the grotto.

"Man, what is that thing feeding on to get to that size?" Noctis agreed as he stared back outside the cave to make sure that crazy monster didn't follow them in.

Gladiolus simply chuckled as he went on ahead to scout out the area, taking note of potential hiding spots for monsters. If what Talcott said was true, then it would be likely to expect quite a nest of enemies in this place. Be it daemons or monsters, they're always attracted to power, and the energy emitted by the Royal Arms would definitely be pretty enticing for them.

"If you two hadn't yelled out, we might have been able to sneak past it unnoticed." Ignis admonished the youngsters as he helped them back onto their feet.

"Mate, that thing was ginormous, like fifty times the size of me! How are you able to keep a straight face for that?!" Prompto exclaimed as he waved his arms around animatedly, as though trying to re-emphasize to Ignis the size of the monster snake.

"Oi Prompto, keep it down. The echo is killing my ears."

"Ah, sorry Noct, my bad." He had completely forgotten that they were now in an enclosed area and that sound waves bouncing off of rocky walls were not the most pleasant experience for those in close vicinity.

Ignis sighed as he adjusted his spectacles, "I had already briefed you guys on the possibility of encountering Midgarsormr on our way here. I've even got the hunt poster for it because you guys wouldn't let up about wanting to try out some snake stew."

"It didn't look that big on the poster!" Prompto and Noctis both exclaimed as though that explained the reasoning behind all their actions.

The Tactician could only give them a disapproving stare, before choosing to help Gladiolus with the scouting. He should have expected such an answer from them.

Watching the disappointment that was clearly being shown by Ignis as he walked off without another word, Noctis and Prompto both looked at each other guiltily, before rushing off after their companions, "H-hey! Wait up!"

~ ***** XV ***** ~

Naruto was currently busy drawing up seals, lots and lots of seals on the equipment he had prepared for Nyx and Crowe. Whilst they were training their endurance in the sea, he was busy getting everything else ready so that they could start the next part of their training. By ready, he was actually asking quite a lot from himself because he needed to reinforce their gear, tinker around with them and apply Hiraishin seals to their weapons.

Considering how their previous combat armour were pretty much destroyed in their respective battles around Insomnia, Naruto had to look for more durable ones for them. After having a chat with his friend in the Imperial Army, he had managed to procure what was called the 'Magitek Suit V2". She was about to explain to him the properties of it to him but he really wasn't paying too much attention. It had a V2 to its name! That's just way too awesome! Never mind the fact that the Captain of the Aerial forces was glaring at him with a twitching eyebrow after realizing the blond was in his own la-la land as he stared at the suits with stars in his eyes. These babies were just the things he was looking for!

After a whack or two on his head, Naruto proceeded to pay the utmost attention with a few protruding bumps from his scalp. You would have thought he had learnt to pay attention when females were talking but in this case, the suits were just too cool for him to do that. Back on topic, these suits were exceptionally durable and didn't weigh a lot at all. It basically felt like the weight of a shirt, which was amazing in its own right. It also had its own 'refreshing circuit' as she had called it, where energy would run freely throughout the suit to keep its wearer cool/warm at all times. The suit would passively collect energy particles in the air and re-process it into a useable energy source to sustain the suit.

" _So it's basically a really awesome suit?"_

He got another whack on the head for that summary, but yes, more or less, it was indeed a very awesome suit. The cost to build one of these was equivalent to manufacturing a thousand magitek infantries, so that alone should tell you the worth of them.

" _How did you get your hands on these anyway?"_

" _Well, I had one that I never used, because, you know, it's just ugly."_

" _Uh huh."_

" _As for the other two, well, I asked Ravus if he needed his and he said no, so I just took it. I stole the final one from some other general in division one. That guy's clueless, so he probably doesn't even realize it's been stolen."_

At this point, most would be quite surprised that Naruto managed to find such an ally within the Imperial Army. It was completely unintentional too, just like how he managed to make friends ninety percent of the time. Who made friends on purpose? Pft, that's just silly.

Randomly stumbling into a one-on-one duel as he was wrecking an Imperial base was like a casual occurrence. Breaking off a Magitek Generator and causing it to explode by accident was totally natural. Intentionally saving the life of the enemy he was supposed to take down was perfectly normal. Having said person stare at him in disbelief was a bit rude, but he simply grinned it off. In the end, just like he always had, he managed to make a friend out of an enemy.

In her case, she had been quite new with the Empire. She used to be a mercenary, happily hunting her bounties when she heard that Niflheim was hiring for people to lead their troops. The pay was a lot better and steadier, so she figured 'what the hell', and signed up for it. With her trusted side-kicks and her formidable skills in aerial combat, she easily managed to grab the spot of a Captain in the army. She was merely patrolling at that base when explosions started going off all over the place. Literally.

" _Overkill is underrated. That is all."_

So the first thing that came to mind was a terrorist group had engaged the base and they needed to counter the attack as soon as possible. Imagine her surprise when she found out that it was just this one dude that was 'flashing' all over the place and basically just destroying anyone and anything that happened to be in his way.

" _What did you mean 'flashing' all the way? Is this dude a streaker or something?"_

" _Er no Mdm, the intruder just moves really quickly, almost as if he was at the speed of light. I didn't know how else to describe it so I just chose that term."_

After that description, anyone with a brain would have put two and two together and realized who the intruder was. As far as she knew, the 'Kingsglaives' of Insomnia all had the ability to 'blink' as they called it, but only one stood out amongst them all with a crazier version of the 'blink'.

" _You imbeciles! How can you not realize that Uzumaki Naruto is the one currently blowing our base up?!"_

She had grabbed her Stoss Spear and charged into battle straight away. At this point, almost everyone knew of 'Shunshin' from Lucis and his ability to take warping to a whole new level. That man was truly an army of one, taking on thousands of magitek infantries on multiple occasions and coming out completely unscathed, a true threat to Niflheim if there ever was one.

The woman with silver-blond hair had heard all about his exploits and her first emotion wasn't anger or fear. It was _excitement_. Her affiliation with the Empire wasn't anything personal, it was just her job; as such, she didn't really care if he had killed off a billion robots or thousands of empire soldiers. She wanted to test her own limits and see for herself if the rumours were true, that 'Shunshin' was indeed impossible to defeat.

The battle started off quite well from her point of view. She had managed to locate him quickly and had engaged him with a ferocity that few had seen from her before. There was just something about challenging someone that was undefeated that brought out another side of her. It wasn't about the glory of besting them nor was it about the fame she would get for topping the legend.

This was the perfect measuring stick for herself and a great opportunity to test if she could really surpass the man that had single-handedly kept the Imperial forces at bay for almost a year now. She had complete confidence in her expertise with aerial combat, but she was pleasantly surprised when her opponent was able to counter her every move in mid-air and exhibit a similar, if not higher level of skill and style with his own manoeuvres.

Unfortunately, the fight came to an abrupt end when her spear was deflected from her and the force behind it sent it crashing straight through one of the Magitek Generators in their base, resulting in a huge explosion right beneath them.

She had lost balance at that point and without her weapon, she was basically a sitting duck, helpless to do much apart from bracing herself for the heat that was to come. Imagine her utmost surprise when her opponent simply scooped her up in his arms and proceeded to perform one jump after the other using nothing but _thin air_ as his imaginary foothold as he finally reached a safe spot.

" _Whew, that was a close one, wasn't it? Hahaha!"_

" _W-what the hell was that?!"_

" _Huh? Whoa there, why are you getting all worked up?"_

" _Why did you save me?! I lost the fight! Why didn't you just let me fall and -"_

" _Yeah but you weren't really trying to kill me, so why would I try to kill you?"_

"… _Huh?"_

" _What? You weren't!"_

" _What do you mean I wasn't trying to kill you? I had my spear and I was concentrating on shoving it down your throat – "_

" _Nah, I could sense it. You wanted to stab me, yes, but not to kill me."_

" _Sense what?! What the heck are you on about?"_

" _Like I said, you didn't come at me with the intent of ending my life, and so I returned the favour. That is all. If you want, we could keep going?"_

It was fortunate for them both that no one else was there to witness the stupidity of the moment. There they were, standing at the top of a building, bickering about why so and so should or shouldn't be saved whilst the entire area was going up in flames. Eventually, a compromise was made between the two - the Captain would owe him three favours as a life debt.

Normally, Naruto wasn't one to go into that sort of formalities but this woman just way too persistent for her own good. He could almost feel her code of honor shrieking that three favours were not enough. Alas, an agreement was made and the relief he had felt when she finally gave in was palpable.

That was the beginning of a beautiful (?) relationship between the two and after all these years, Naruto felt it was safe to say that Aranea Highwind was a good ally, comrade and an even better friend. Those in the army knew of her as 'The Dragoon', admired her combat prowess, envied her stature and lauded her accomplishments. Yet few had gotten close enough to see for themselves who she really was.

After the 'life debt' had been sorted (which happened in five minutes), much to Aranea's indignation since the three favours turned out to be 'Can you get me a glass of water?', 'Just pretend I wasn't here today' and 'Is it okay if I come hang out with you every now and then?', the woman simply grumbled sulkily that he clearly didn't take her seriously enough.

" _This is just ridiculous. You're supposed to the 'Shunshin'! Why are you so nice?! Why do you act like you're just this guy who's dropped into an Imperial Base for a glass of water?!"_

" _Well, I did. I just 'accidentally' set off the alarm."_

" _You're just being a dick."_

" _Hey hey hey, that's mean."_

" _I don't even know what to think anymore." Given from what she had heard, she figured he would be this really serious, aloof and ruthless person. How else do you explain he wiped out a thousand magitek infantries in one go? Now that she saw this happy-go-lucky, cheeky, playful blond in front of her, it was almost impossible for her to fit this person to the image she had in her head._

 _The 'Shunshin' was supposed to be cool! She wasn't expecting this… this…_

" _Oi." The look of disgust on her face was quite obvious, even for someone like Naruto._

" _Sigh… I feel like stabbing you again."_

" _Ehhh?!"_

At the end of the day, they managed to set aside their differences and just chat. This all happened while explosions transpired all around the base. Neither of them cared about the soldiers high-tailing it out of there, nor the ensuing chaos that occurred, they just chatted well into the night.

Naruto had easily set up a fuin-barrier around them preventing any damage to be done to them, hence why they could just talk without any chance of being interrupted. He had just come back from another failed assassination of Ardyn, and he was quite confident that the evil chancellor wouldn't have the energy to look for him so quickly. Getting your head lopped off about fifty times must do something to you. Sure you can regenerate, but the experience of having your head off mustn't be very pleasant. If that asshole knew what was good for him, he wouldn't bother chasing the blond.

Aranea was completely caught off-guard when Naruto explained to her what he had been doing and why he did it. He had to be lying. He just had to be. What kind of idiot would lay out his plans for the future of not just his country, but the entire world of Eos to an enemy that had just tried to kill him a few hours ago?!

" _Me. OW! What was that for?!"_

" _Just shut up and let me think! This makes no sense whatsoever! How?! How can you be so trusting?!"_

" _Why not?"_

" _Stop being so condescending towards me!"_

" _I'm not!"_

The conversation continued well into the night. By the time they had finished, the moon was high up in the sky and the flames that plagued the base had pretty much burnt out.

" _Huh, reinforcements should have come by now."_

" _Nah, they're probably fortifying the security in Gralea. I did a number on those robots today."_

" _Are you telling me you were actually in the capital of Niflheim just this morning, and yet you managed to get to this base on the same day?"_

" _Yeah."_

"… _I'm not even going to bother anymore."_

Till this day, Aranea would never truly understand why Naruto had trusted her with all that info when they first met. All the talk about how her essence felt pure and 'Nature' was telling him that he could trust her went completely over her head. She just chalked it up to him being weird.

" _Hey! I resent that! I'm not weird!"_

" _Shut up. You are and you know it."_

" _Muu… you're so mean, Ara-chan…"_

" _DON'T CALL ME THAT!"_

There was just something about this guy that just made you let your guard down. He was just such a nice and sincere person that you couldn't help but want to trust him. It wasn't the first time she had held her suspicion on the 'production' of magitek infantry and she had done her own research on what was going behind the scenes in Gralea. What she heard from Naruto that day had coincided with her doubts and all but confirmed that something wasn't right with Niflheim and its Emperor.

She had been contemplating on leaving the army to start her own bounty-hunting group once again, but this opened up another path for her. This whole 'tale' of his sounded so surreal, yet it explained so much. How else could you explain the slowly lengthening nights in Gralea? Why else would the Emperor show a sudden eagerness to obtain the Crystal of Lucis even though he had never brought up this topic before? How else could you explain the sudden change from a peaceful, benevolent King to a power-hungry, ruthless conqueror?

They've maintained contact since then, which was actually not as hard as one would have imagined since Aranea had missions that brought her all over the world and it didn't take Naruto long to get to wherever she was since he had left markers for himself to all of the major cities and outposts.

" _I'll make sure to take good care of the Prince for you. No worries."_

" _The way you say it makes me worry ever so slightly."_

In their latest chat, he had asked for her to be on the lookout for Noctis since he knew it would be a matter of time before they stumbled upon an Imperial Base. She had easily accepted on the condition that she was allowed to rough them up a bit.

" _As long as you don't go too overboard, I don't see why not."_

" _Is he as pretty as they say he is?"_

" _Oi. Luna called dips on him. Paws off."_

" _How rude! I was just teasing."_

" _Good."_

" _Aww, are you jealous?"_

" _Y-No! Why would I be jealous?"_

" _Ha! You so are!"_

" _Am not!"_

" _Are too!"_

And so on and so forth. He had no idea what it was with women and their constant need to tease him.

" _You're just too cute!"_

Somehow, the overlapping voices in his head of the two different females who said that exact same thing didn't boost his confidence in his masculinity.

It was no wonder why Nyx, Crowe and Libertus all had bewildered looks on their faces when the first thing they heard their Leader say when they walked back into the cottage was, "I'm not cute, damn it!"

~ ***** XV ***** ~

"I still don't see why they call it the 'Swords of Wanderers'." The photographer of the group protested yet again.

"Will you give it a rest? You've been mumbling about that the whole trip back." Gladiolus rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time.

"But surely you agree!"

"Yes, yes, it looks like a glaive more than a sword, we get it." Ignis answered mechanically as he turned off the engine of the Regalia.

"Mo! You guys are just brushing me off."

The group continued their banter as they made their way triumphantly back to the Leville Hotel to praise Talcott for the great info he provided to them.

Imagine their surprise when they saw Iris still in their room, as though waiting for their return.

"Iris? What are you still doing here?" Prompto asked in surprise.

"I'm sorry guys." Her normally chirpy voice was filled with despair as she turned around with tears in her eyes, "I didn't make it to Cape Caem after all."

"What's wrong? Why are you -" Gladiolus quickly gathered his beloved sister into her arms as she wept into his arms, "I'm so sorry."

"Shh, shh, it's okay. Everything is going to be alright." Patting her gently on the back, he tried his best to sooth her, "What happened? Where is Jared?"

Her answer would be the first of many tests to come on their adventure, setting a somber tone for what was to follow.

"He's dead Glady… It all happened so fast… The Imperials came to search for you guys just after you left for the Glacial Grotto and they went straight for him. I couldn't do anything, I could only watch as they…"

Nothing more needed to be said. They could all imagine what had happened.

"Noctis-sama…" A muffled voice sounded from outside the door, and said Prince identified it straight away.

"Talcott…" Grimacing at the sobbing boy standing at attention outside their room, Noctis immediately gathered him into a hug as he weeped, "Grandpa is… grandpa he…"

"I'm sorry Talcott…" The lovely old man who had taken care of him throughout the years was gone, just like that.

In this one moment, all four of them were brutally reminded that yes, they were still at war; and no, the nightmare had yet to end.

" _We'll be waiting for your return right here, Prince Noctis. Please do take care of yourself."_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _If the Sky that we look upon, should crumble and fall…_

~ ***** XV ***** ~

 _ **A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We'll soon be moving on with the action after all the backstories. Reviews will be much appreciated. Cheers guys. XD**_


	5. Chapter 4: Trial of the Titan

**Stand by Me**

 **Chapter 4: Trial of the Titan**

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. This thing uses _what?!_ " Libertus could not believe what Leader just said. They had been gathered by the blond just a while ago, waiting gleefully for their weapons to be returned to them after some 'intensive re-modelling'. When they first got to Cape Caem, Naruto had 'confiscated' all their weapons, insisting on them working on physical conditioning without weapons whilst he 'worked' on them to make them 'more powerful'. Naturally, none of them would say no to that, so they went along with it. But now…

"Life force."

"How can you just say that so nonchalantly?!" The brown-haired man was about to claw his cheeks off with the way he kept dragging his hand across them, as though to convince himself that there was no way his esteemed Leader would come up with something that felt so much like dark magic.

"Why are you getting so worked up about it?"

"Erm, I think anyone would freak out considering you just said we have to _give up our lives_ just to use these weapons?" Crowe replied in a hesitant manner, as though unsure how she was to react to this. Naruto had been the one she looked up since forever, so if he wanted her to die for his cause then… she would gladly –

"Ouch!" Rubbing the sore spot on her forehead as she stared at the blond incredulously, "What was that for?"

"You were being stupid, so I karate-chopped you."

"W-what?!" Could he read minds too?!

"It's all written on your face," Waving her indignation away, Naruto continued, "Just let me explain first, geez, you don't see Nyx freaking out like you two."

Said person simply shrugged as he replied, "Well technically, I've already died once so… I'm not too worried about it."

"So we _are_ going to die? Oh Eos, what's going to happen to my soul – OUCH!"

"Would you calm down for a second?" Naruto rolled his eyes, "Have a little bit more faith in me, will ya?"

"We do. We just believe you like experimenting more." The only female in the room mumbled as she still looked hurt that he had chopped her on the head. She wasn't a little girl anymore, damn it!

"Harsh." The blond laughed in amusement as he settled them down, "Before you think this is some sort of evil curse that will make you grow older with every second you're touching your weapons, let me assure you that is not the case."

Motioning for them to get closer, he gestured to the seals he had applied to their weapons, using Nyx's Kukiris for an example, "Think of it as using your stamina. I'm not going to bother explaining why I'm able to siphon your energy and use it in this form because you guys won't get it anyway; just know that you'll get tired of 'blinking' using these weapons _a lot_ faster than when you were using magic."

"Wait, you mean we can still 'blink'?" Crowe asked incredulously as she stared at her dagger, "But I thought the only reason we could do it was with the King's magic helping us?"

"That is correct, which is why I had to go through a whole lot of trouble to add these lovely seals to your weapons to make them react to a different source of energy." Tapping his feet impatiently, Naruto continued, "A nice 'thank you' would suffice."

"Er…" Nyx frowned as he asked, "How much faster?"

Smirking, the blond threw their weapons to them, leaving the three frantically reaching out in various awkward positions to make sure they didn't drop them, "Let's find out."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

A tense atmosphere surrounded the four of them as they drove after this Ardyn person. This person seemed to always be at the right place at the right time. It was getting a bit too coincidental for their liking. Yet with the way Noctis' headaches were happening, they didn't really have any other choices. The route to the Titan was heavily guarded by the Imperials; hence why the four have decided to take a leap of faith and follow the only lead they had at this point.

"So, any idea who this guy could be?" Prompto chirped from the back as he took photos of the valleys they passed.

"Whoever he is, it would do us well to stay on our guard at all times. For him to claim to have access to the Disc of Cauthess…" Ignis had a grim look on his face as his brain ran through multiple possibilities of the man's identity, only to arrive at one plausible, yet unbelievable conclusion.

"It'll be alright. If this is indeed a message from the Titan to meet Noct, then I don't think even NIflheim can do much about it." Gladiolus shrugged as he settled back in his seat.

"Let's hope so." Ignis sighed as he focused on the drive. A lot had happened over the last few days and though none of them showed it, the death of Jared did hit them quite hard. Gladiolus spent quite some time comforting Iris, insisting that there was nothing more she could have done and promised to help avenge the old butler for them all should he have a chance.

Noctis seemed a lot more subdued since the event, though that could be because his headaches were getting worse. The frequency of them was increasing by the hour and to this point, it seemed as if the Prince had a grimace on his face permanently. Prompto did his best to try and cheer his friend up but even his antics could only do so much to alleviate the head-splitting aches that Noctis was experiencing.

"Hm, we're almost at the checkpoint." Gladiolus noted as he sat up higher on his seat, eyes readily scanning for any threats, "He's slowing down, be on your guard."

"Gotcha." Prompto immediately settled down and readied his firearm, intent on drawing the enemy's attention him first with a well-fired Starshell. He might not be the best front-line fighter in the group, but he sure as hell was the best harasser they had, or so Ignis had mentioned. He had tried to call it 'flanking', but was overruled by the other three.

It didn't take long before they stopped in front of the stronghold, with that shady character Ardyn stepping out of his vehicle, yelling out to someone at the top of the gate, "Ooooi, it's me! Open up!"

Their first reaction was to scoff at this childish act. There was just no way someone would randomly open up a gate because of a request like this. They were proven wrong when the gate opened almost immediately after the request, and it must have shown on their faces as the middle-aged man walked over and gave them a smirk that was half-amused, half-arrogant, "Well then, say hi to the Titan for me."

As they slowly began their drive down towards the Titan, Prompto took one last look at the man in the rear-view mirror waving to them almost haughtily, the blond couldn't help but grumble, "Can I shoot him?"

The fact that no one voiced any disagreement would almost be hilarious if not for the very _big_ reminder that they were about to come face to face with the Astral that had caught the astral shard when it fell to Eos and basically just carried it on its back all these years. This being wanted to meet Noctis for whatever reason, and as the visage of the Archaean loomed into view, all four of them tried their best to act indifferent about the situation.

It wouldn't really do for them all to start freaking out as they stared at the slumbering Titan right before their eyes.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Well… okay then." Naruto's eyebrow was twitching quite a bit as he stared at the panting figures on the ground, "Even though I knew it would be quicker, I didn't think it would be _this_ quick."

The three of them didn't even bother to respond; they were still busy trying to catch their breath. Boy, Leader wasn't kidding when he said the 'blinking' used your stamina. It wasn't even like strenuous exercise, where you felt your endurance drip away bit by bit. It was more of a 'whoosh' and you're tired instantly sensation, which was also extremely disorienting. Furthermore, the 'blinking' itself was different from what they were used to. It was a lot smoother this time, but a bit too much so, if that even made any sense. It was almost as if they could feel themselves travelling as they 'blinked', like they were actually moving at the speed of light.

"Well you are, so, yeah."

In any case, at this stage it would appear that they wouldn't accidentally kill themselves by using the weapons. Heck, they _couldn't_ intentionally kill themselves even if they tried. Libertus went down after three tries, she had somehow managed four and even Nyx could only do five. It was natural Libertus would manage the least because he was still recovering from his injury, hence why his stamina would be the worst of them three.

So at this stage, it meant that they would probably only be able to blink once or twice _max_ if they wanted to retain any energy to do combat at all. Even then, it seemed as if they were going to be pushed pretty hard.

"Yeaaaaaah. We're gonna have to work on that." Naruto sighed as he scratched his head, "Welp, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the measly amounts of chakra in your body; then there's the fact that you can't even control the output of it because you don't sense the energy."

Seeing how they couldn't speak since they were busy gasping for breath, Naruto continued, "Don't worry too much about this chakra thing. Just think of it as stamina. You guys are just _really_ unfit. No biggie."

Judging by the glares they sent him, their egos were slightly dented.

"Pft, don't give me that look. I can blink an unlimited amount of times. Watch." It didn't matter if he was old and reborn into a new world, you've gotta show off the skills if you had them. Not that his three subordinates cared since they were struggling to get off the ground instead of watching their annoying Leader flash all over the place, again reminding them that they basically _sucked_ compared to him.

It wasn't like they didn't _know_ Naruto was better than them. It had just been awhile since they were _reminded_ of this fact. For the past few years, they had always believed they were pretty damn good on the battlefield and the only reason they lost was due to enemy numbers/betrayals/unforeseen invasions. One couldn't _possibly_ overcome all those odds, could they?

"Alright, we're going to practise this. I'm going to charge you guys back up and you're gonna keep doing it until you get used to the feeling."

With a simple tap on their shoulders, Naruto transferred over some of his chakra and bam, all three felt refreshed again.

"You could have helped us just like that… and yet you watched us writhe in pain on the ground for ten minutes." Crowe growled as she grumpily stalked over to her weapons, ready for another attempt at 'blinking'.

"Well, I'm just making up for lost time. Teehee." Sticking his tongue out and assuming a 'cute' pose, the blond's smile was so wide it threatened to split his face.

"I hate you Leader. I hope you know that." Nyx sighed as he too resumed the tortur – erhem, _training_.

"I love you guys too."

Libertus didn't even bother answering, wisely choosing to save his energy for the practise.

One minute later, all three of them were back on the ground.

Whistling jauntily, Naruto leaned over them once more, "Oh yeah, the more I charge you up, the harder the adrenaline crash will be once we finish up. Ready for round three?"

As a sign of improvement, the three of them managed to raise their middle finger in a universally recognized gesture to respond to their leader. They lasted for about a second before they crumpled.

"Aren't you guys glad to have me back?"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

The headaches simply weren't getting any better. The ground beneath them was burning and the monsters around them wouldn't stop hackling them even as they tried to traverse through tumbling rocks. He didn't know what he expected when he set out to 'meet' the Titan but it certainly wasn't this.

For some reason, he had this image where he would say 'hi' to the Archaean, he would easily tell Noctis his request, they would become best buddies via a nice animation with flowers blooming all over the place and that was it. The Titan would now appear per his beckoning whenever and wherever the place, stomping on enemies, absolutely wrecking the Imperial Troops with his gigantic stature and just flinging rocks at Niflheim, showing them who was the boss here.

Naturally, things weren't this easy. If anything, it was like hard mode actually existed on this planet. Gone were the days where warp-striking actually killed anything. His hands were so damn sweaty from the surrounding embers that he could barely hold on to the weapon, let alone concentrate well enough to pull off a critical warp-strike. It was just his luck that there were plenty of aerial monsters waiting to eat his guts once his missed a warp-strike, so he stuck to fire spells instead (since he stupidly left the blizzard spells with Prompto because the blond had requested to have a chance at being 'cool'); only to find that he was doing nothing but adding to the heat in the area, naturally leading to him getting more ticked off with everything on this world that it felt like his head was about to burst –

"Hey knock it off!" A rough shove pushed him to the side amidst his anger.

"The hell was that for?!" Glaring at the man that had always acted as his shield for duty and for brotherhood, he lashed out, "You want a piece of me too?"

Gladiolus snorted in disgust, "As if you could take me on like this. Look at you."

"I don't have time for your lectures." Shaking his fist, he turned around to continue before he was stopped in his tracks.

"You're absolutely pathetic."

"… What did you just say?" The Lucis Prince turned around slowly as he gritted is teeth, "What the _fuck_ did you just say?"

With a simple move, the big man grabbed him by his jacket and stared him right in the face, " _Pathetic._ "

His eyes flashed with anger as he lashed out with a kick aimed right at Gladiolus' face, spinning out of his grasp as he readied to enter an all out brawl, only to be stopped once again as brute strength overcame his finesse and slammed him into the wall nearby, "Look at you, moaning and whining about the whole situation, you think you're the only one suffering? You think you're the only one who has something to lose? Pull yourself together!"

Putting emphasis on his statement, Gladiolus growled, "Everyone is putting their lives on the line for you, the King, the Princess, General Cor, _everyone_! You don't get to sulk just because things aren't going your way!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Pushing himself off, he yelled, "I know that more than anyone else! But did I ask for this? No!" Waving his hands around, gesturing at the Titan and their surroundings, "This shit isn't easy! I'm not that brave or strong! I can't just save everyone in a second! Get off my back for once!"

"Are you a man of Royal blood or aren't you?" Gladiolus growled as he clenched his fist.

"I'm just a man, just as helpless as everyone else. Having royal blood doesn't make me a super hero!" Noctis snarled in defiance.

"Oh yes it does! You are responsible for the lives of others, not just your own! We Amicitia are the sworn shields of the King. We guard the King with our lives, that's the way it had always been. I've embraced my duty, my cause, my purpose in life. I take pride in it!" Grabbing him by the shoulder once again, he stared into Noctis' eyes with absolute determination, "If you can't focus, shut up and let me do it for you."

The Prince met his eyes for a few more moments before looking away and nodding stiffly.

"Life was never meant to be easy; however," Letting the Prince go, he took lead once more, "don't forget that we'll always be there for you."

 _You just gotta believe, Noctis! Believe in your friends, believe in your father and most importantly, believe in yourself! If you do that, you'll have nothing to fear!_

Familiar words rang through his mind as he remembered the teachings of the cheerful blond that had so abruptly disappeared from his life many years ago. He had never felt so alone when news reached him that his mentor had gone missing.

 _I guess I haven't changed at all, Naruto-sensei._

"Hey Gladio." Taking in a deep breath, he regained his focus before catching up to the guy who had always been by his side.

"What?"

"Thanks, for waking me up." Rueful smiles were exchanged as they fist-bumped, reaching a higher level of understanding between the two of them.

"Heh, don't mention it."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

Watching the Imperial ships fly past them towards the Disc of Cauthess, Kurama raised an eyebrow as he asked the Princess, "You sure he's going to be okay?"

Lunafreya continued her trek towards her next destination, Ramuh's sanctuary. It hadn't taken her too long to explain to the Titan her reasons of being there, and she had faith in the Chosen one that he would accomplish the task with little difficulty, "Noctis-sama will be just fine. I believe in him."

"Keh, such confidence in him. It's more than the brat deserves." Let it be known that the almighty nine-tailed fox had a very snobbish past-time of bad mouthing kids way younger than he was.

Their trip was relatively quiet and efficient. They had reached the Archaean, Lunafreya did her ritual and the conclusion drawn by the Titan was that he would need to test this 'King' to see if he was fitting to wield his power. Kurama had almost slept through the entire meeting, since he really didn't care about the Astrals.

Had Naruto been there, he would have mimicked Kurama's voice to perfection, repeating the declaration the fox had exclaimed when he first came to this world, _"Why don't I fight them one on six and show them who's boss first?"_

It didn't matter that Kurama would most likely have lost the battle since when they first arrived, their chakra was pretty much in shambles. It was the principle of the matter! He was the mightiest bijuu of them all, and he would not back down from that claim if it was the last thing he did. Though nowadays, he rarely ever said that again because every time he did, Lunafreya would just pet him on the head and told him he was a 'good boy'.

He would snarl at her but because the Oracle was just so pure that there was no way he could be mean to her. So the only way to not get the 'good boy' treatment was to not boast about himself all the time.

"I've got to say, what do those guys think they can do to an Astral that big? Like seriously, what are they gonna do, shoot at him with their puny guns?" Kurama shook his head in disbelief, "I don't get it."

Lunafreya couldn't help but chuckle at that, even though she knew he was just doing it to raise her spirits (and she was grateful for it, make no mistake), "Yes Kurama-san. The imperials are most likely acting on the orders of the Chancellor to try and kill the Archaean before the pact could be made with Noctis-sama."

"Wait, wait, wait. So this guy was the one to grant access to the Titan for your brat, yet he now also wants to stop the big rock dude to make a pact with your brat, which was why he sent your brat in to the damn Disc in the first place? Like what the heck is up with this logic?"

The Oracle couldn't even respond as a bright blush crept across her face each time Kurama mentioned Noctis as 'her brat'. Naturally, the fox ignored the cute expression since he saw it every five minutes and continued, "Let's hope the big fella puts up some fight. It'd be really boring if he went down just for the sake of making a pact."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Oh shit it's coming again!" Prompto shrieked in horror as the same gigantic fist that had been punching at them time and time again approached them once more.

"For the love of Eos, shut up and make yourself useful!" Noctis gritted his teeth as he parried the attack with his Ultima Blade once again, barely having enough strength to change the course of the fist, narrowly avoiding death for the umpteenth time in the past few hours.

 _Didn't this guy want me to come see him? Why, it's almost like he's actually trying to kill me!_

The Prince didn't have long to dwell on his sarcastic thoughts as he had to evade yet another punch. It was absolute chaos all around them. They had finally managed to reunite with Prompto and Ignis after much adventuring which led them to a conveniently large clearing right in front of the Titan before the battle happened.

It didn't take long for Prompto and Ignis to realize that their primary weapons weren't really doing much damage. You try hacking at a mountain with daggers or shooting it with a pistol to see how effective that would be. Gladiolus didn't fare any better even though he had the strength to actually do some major damage, because he didn't have the athletic ability to actually _hit_ the damn thing. The punches only aimed for Noctis and half the time, their battles were in mid-air, so he could only get in a slice or two every few minutes, which really didn't do all that much.

On top of all that, Imperial magitek infantry units entered the same battlefield not long after. They had been prepared for a pincer attack, thinking this must have been the trap that the Ardyn person had led them into, but imagine their surprise when the units practically ignored them and proceeded to launch all sorts of nasty machinery/beams/bullets into the Archaean.

Ignis had been the first one to realize their motive, understanding that they were trying to take down the Titan before he completed his pact with Noctis, thereby preventing the Prince from obtaining the power that could impede the Empire's progress in the future.

Naturally, that meant their jobs were now to take out as many Magitek units as they could whilst Noctis strived to complete the damn ritual as soon as possible. At this stage, the Prince was pretty sure that the Titan expected him to _defeat_ him somehow. It must have been completely plausible to the Astral for a human one-millionth his size to take him down.

"How long am I meant to keep this up?!" Noctis exclaimed in frustration as he had to dodge another fist in mid-air as he frantically looked around for a warp point to give himself a moment of reprieve. He must have parried that fist like fifty times by now but it just _kept coming back_!

He had scanned the Titan for weaknesses with Libra (which came up blank because _obviously_ , an Astral did not have a weak point) and tried his whole arsenal of weapons (swords, polearms, machinery, greatswords) on the giant but to no avail.

At this rate, he wouldn't last much longer against the onslaught. If he failed to survive this then, he would have failed his father, his friends and his mentor, for all the trust they've placed in him and the confidence they had in him to take care of the rest. No, he would not let them down! He mustn't let them down!

"Ignis! Any ideas at all?"

"Just a second!" The tactician had been busy searching for a weakness using his ability Libra Elementia. The Titan simply could not be defeated via pure physical means. The Archaean was the astral of the Earth itself, the element of strength, resilience and stability. In order to counter it, you would have to use an element that could somehow nullify its properties so as to give it a fatal blow.

"Gladio, cover Prompto and myself for a bit." Waving over the blond, he quickly asked for the two magical flasks that Noctis had left them before they got separated. With haste, he explained to Prompto their plan of attack and sent a signal flare up into the sky to catch Noctis' attention.

"Send the fist our way, then ready your Armiger!"

Noctis' eyes widened in surprise before he took to the air once more with a smirk on his face, ready to take on the stone fist once more, "Gotcha!"

He hadn't used any of the Royal Arms in his possession because of the way they drained on his stamina. In a drawn-out fight like this, he had played it safe, slowly building up the magic for the one moment where he could unleash absolute devastation using those weapons.

Taking in a deep breath, he rammed his blade against the fist once again, grunting in exertion as he forcefully re-directed it straight towards the other three, "Here he comes!"

"Gladio!"

"I got it!" Summoning his Ice Shield, the Amicitia took an extremely wide, low stance as he readied for the incoming attack. He knew what his role was and he executed it to perfection. It didn't take long before the brunt force of the fist crashed right into his shield, pushing him back with ease before he finally managed to slow it down enough for both Ignis and Prompto to take aim, "Now!"

Not letting the opportunity go to waste, the two of them immediately dashed towards the temporarily stationary limb and casted the strongest Blizzara they could muster onto the entire length of the limb. Icy winds howled through the area, catching the Titan by surprise as his limb was frozen to the core, rendering it helpless against the barrage that was to come.

Without hesitation, Noctis activated his Armiger and warped straight towards the stationary arm, "Time to wrap this up, big guy! Haaaargh!"

Sword of the Wise came first, combining his slashes and warp-strikes into one seamless transition as he began his bombardment. Swords of the Wanderers followed ruthlessly as the attacks continued, aiming to destroy all that stood in its path as it laid waste to the element of Earth. Blade of the Mystic was summoned to his hand as he took to the airs again, firing countless projectiles at its target, preparing itself for the finale as he readied the Axe of the Conqueror, "Try this on for size!" Summoning up the last bits of magic power within him, he brought the Royal Arm down with all his remaining strength and smashed it right on the frosted appendage, the force easily breaking it into dust as he landed firmly on his feet.

With his limb completely destroyed, the Archaean crashed into the ground with a resounding roar. Noctis barely had time to register his win before the headaches assaulted him once again, this time however, showing him images of Lunafreya and her meeting with the Titan.

 _So that's why… Luna… you spoke to her?_

It was as though knowledge had been unlocked in his brain and he instantly understood the whole point of this meeting. Luna had risked everything to journey through to the Disc of Cauthess, only for a chance to convince the Titan that Noctis was the Chosen One and to plead with him to lend the Prince his strength when the time came. The Titan had begrudgingly agreed on the condition that he found the Prince worthy of his power. That was the reason behind the headaches. The Titan had been summoning him all this time for this exact purpose; to test to see if he truly was the one worthy of forming a pact with the Archaean.

Just as he was sorting out this sequence of events, the Titan rose once again, seals on his body glowing brightly before he disappeared in a combustion of energy, as though signifying the success of the pact.

The residual energy from the blast had easily taken out whatever remaining Magitek infantries that were unfortunate enough to be caught in the radius of it, leaving just Noctis and his friends stranded in the clearing.

"Oi Noctis! Are you alright?!" Gladiolus quickly reached the Prince as Prompto and Ignis brought up the rear, eyes wary of any other possible dangers still lurking in the surroundings.

Staring numbly at the Mark of the Archaean that now rested in his hands, the Prince gave a grim smile, "I'm okay. It's over now." Closing his eyes, he was ready to plop down on the ground after an absolutely exhausting battle when lava started exploding out of the rocks in the area.

"What in the actual …"

Cracks started appearing all over the clearing, crumbling to pieces by the second due to the resulting damage caused by their battle just moments ago.

"It really doesn't get much worse than this." Gladiolus grimaced as he tried desperately to search for a way out.

Ignis and Prompto didn't fare much better either as all manners of escape had been cut off by cracks or lava and they really didn't have the energy to climb up the cliffs.

"Come on, _surely_ it can't end like this?!"

As though to answer their frustrations, an empire airship chose that moment to loom into view, as though it had been waiting for this moment all along.

"The Empire? Now of all times?" Ignis exclaimed in disbelief.

"Weren't they all caught in the blast just now?"

"Apparently not." Noctis mumbled as he braced himself.

As the docking doors of the airship opened, a familiar figure stepped into view, with that same annoying smirk on his face, waving in that exact same condescending manner, "Fancy meeting you here!"

His violet hair so immaculately perfect even in a situation like this made him all the more irritating, "It occurs to me I've never actually formally introduced myself."

Taking great pleasure in the flabbergasted looks on the four youngsters below, he continued smoothly, "Izunia. Ardyn Izunia."

Ignis gave a click of his tongue as he growled, "I knew it. Chancellor of the Niflheim Empire, Ardyn Izunia."

Giving him a complimentary clap, Ardyn mocked, "At your service, and more importantly, to your aid."

"Are you serious?" Prompto squawked, "You?! Offering us safe passage?"

"Well, you could always take your chances down there, if you would like. Burying under the rubble sounds like a great way to go!" The sincerity behind his insincerity was absolutely infuriating, yet the four of them could do nothing about this situation.

They knew very well that they didn't have a choice. None of them wanted to die, that's for sure.

Seeing the resolution that had come upon their faces, the Chancellor simply smiled as he bowed, "Well then, welcome aboard my humble abode."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _And the mountain should crumble to the sea_

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: First of all, Happy New Year! Second of all, my apologies for the late update. I went on a bit of a holiday over the New Years and when I came back, work was a bit more trying than I had expected, so I didn't really get time to write much. As mentioned before, my schedule is quite hectic with a full time job, so please bear with me.**_

 _ **Finally, please read and review! Hope you've enjoyed it. Cheers guys.**_


	6. Chapter 5: Time to Rumble

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 5: Time to Rumble**

"What is it with old people and riddles?" Kurama grumbled on Lunafreya's shoulders as they left the Sanctum of Ramuh.

"Mo, Kurama-san, stop being so mean towards him." Surprisingly, the Oracle actually chastised the fox for his rude manners instead of coddling him like a pampered child.

"I can't help it! He's so _old_ , and what's with that robe thing he's wearing? Who the heck wears a robe onto the battlefield? And that staff with the unicorn thingy at the end of it? Is he trying to compensate for something? What about - OUCH!" He was 'violently' interrupted by a whack to his head (it was actually very gentle, but he was more shocked by the fact that he was being physically punished by the sweet girl).

"Bad Kurama-san!" Crossing her arms, she assumed a very 'strict' pose as she aimed to make her displeasure very clear to the fox.

"W-wha…"

"Ramuh is a very wise sage who watches over us at all times! Those riddles are simply his way of testing our resolve and determination so that he can entrust his power to us! Not everyone can just handle an Astral's power! Out of the Six, he is the only one to actively engage and accommodate his powers to us so that we don't lose control of it!"

"Pft, more like the old fart has nothing better to do."

"Kurama-san!"

"Come on Luna, you know it's true! You tell me what his daily routine is then? What, wake up, summon a rain cloud to take a shower, then brush his hair before appearing to help whoever had made a pact with him because none of the other six could be bothered to show up?"

"Mo!"

"Ouch! Stop hitting me!"

"Only if you apologize to Ramuh!"

"Hell no! I'm way stronger than that fossil! Why should I say sorry to someone who's weaker than me!"

Lunafreya adopted a very cute 'angry' pout, the expression that seemed to be super effective against both the fox and his partner, both of whom seem to be the only ones idiotic enough to drive her to use the expression.

"Grrrrr, no!"

The stare continued on in defiant silence.

"I thought we're on the run from your brother! We haven't got time for this."

She wasn't backing down at all.

"N-no, I will not give in! You won't bully me into doing something I don't want to do!"

Another few seconds passed. If only a few crows could fly by and squawk at the idiocy of this, then the scene would be complete.

"Look the other way! Stop looking at me like that! My evil soul feels exposed!"

It took pretty much all the Princess had to not just roll her eyes in exasperation. Nevertheless, she maintained her composure and kept the expression up.

"Oh alright! Fine! I'll apologize the next time I see him. There, happy?" Plopping himself down, he grumpily looked to the side, knowing there was no way he could win this battle.

In response, Lunafreya gave him another whack on the head before continuing on their trip, "See, that wasn't so hard."

"You're so mean now, Luna. What happened to the sweet girl all those years ago?" The mighty nine-tailed beast sounded extremely pitiful at this moment.

"I learnt it all from you, Kurama-san." Smiling as she remembered all the 'teachings' she had been 'given' by the fox, she raised her hand pulled the fox closer for a quick cuddle, "Now, you need to learn to put aside your jealousy and accept that I'll always love you."

"W-what?! I-I wasn't _jealous_!" The fox shrieked in indignance, "H-how dare you suggest that I, the mighty Kurama, would be envious of the respect you give to that ancient lightning tower!"

The Princess simply gave him a light squeeze in reply, not bothering to acknowledge his 'tsundere' symptoms, and instead focused on the current situation.

Gentiana should now be on her way to guide Prince Noctis and his crew to Ramuh. With the Empire doubling their efforts in trying to capture her, she didn't have much time before they managed to corner her. She needed to make her way to Altissia as soon as possible to set up a meeting with Leviathan. At least she could take solace in the fact that Prince Noctis managed to form a pact with the Titan without much trouble. It was now on her to ensure the remaining rituals go just as smoothly.

"Why are you smiling like that? I'm not jealous, I tell you! I'm not!"

"Let's go, Kurama-san."

"Don't just brush me off like that! Is this what it feels like to have a daughter grow up?! You're beginning to sound way too much like Himawari! Don't do it, Luna, stay pure!"

Needless to say, their journey continued the same as always, filled with lots of cussing, embraces and laughter.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

Throw, hook, retract.

Throw, hook, retract.

Repetition over and over and over again.

"Erm, not that I don't appreciate your suggestion, Leader, but er… are you sure this will help me?"

Libertus asked dubiously as he continued to aim at stationary objects whilst he flung his chain-hook at them, attaching on to them before pulling it back. Crowe and Nyx were back in the water again after their weapons training. They needed to up their stamina for blink usage as much as possible before their trip to Altissia (which apparently, will be coming quite soon according to Naruto) and at this rate, they'll be close to useless in combat.

Make no mistake, if it were a normal one on one combat, Nyx and Crowe would most likely destroy their opponents. The issue with fighting the Empire had always lied in the numbers game. Whatever the Glaives would throw at them, they would simply tank the damage using countless magitek infantries. Nyx could probably take on one on ten with magic assistance from the King, but against hundreds of enemies? No normal amount of combat prowess was going to get you out of that situation.

Now that they were without Mana, they really needed to up their survival skills. Top priority in combat situations was no longer about killing the most enemies; it was now about living for the longest period of time and securing the objective.

 _If you died, who the heck is supposed protect your target? Call it running, call it tactical retreat, call it whatever! As long as you can survive even a second longer to ensure the safety of your comrades and your target, do it!_

Luckily, it wasn't as if this was a foreign concept to them, since all three of them grew up in the slums pretty much and survival was everything. Their bodies had endured all that life had thrown at them and this was pretty much ingrained into their souls. The only problem was how to do that at a higher level.

How to run? Where to find cover? How to distract?

Importance of high-ground control, stealth and awareness of your surroundings.

Basics of the basics for Shinobi.

As easy as that sounded, it did take Naruto quite some time to master them. Since he was a kid, he wanted to be flashy, to attract attention, to make people notice him, which pretty much went against all the principles of the Shinobi.

In his later years with Jiraiya, he had a much better understanding of them, but by then, it was quite hard to get rid of old habits. It took practice, repetition and determination, none of which he lacked, and he succeeded.

No one in this world could detect his presence if he didn't want them to know about him. Not even Ardyn, who was supposed to be this evil mastermind that even certain Astrals were wary of. However, that didn't do anything for his subordinates, because his job was to _be_ loud and flashy to draw attention away from them while they succeeded in their role. Such was the responsibility of the powerhouse. Not only must you mow down the opposition, but you must do so in a way that helps your team.

After that many assassination attempts, Ardyn would have figured out his personality and way of working. He wouldn't hesitate to involve innocents the next time they engaged each other. Whilst the blond knew he couldn't save everyone, he still tried to minimize casualties wherever possible. That was why he always ventured alone, not wanting to bring attention to his allies lest they were unable to handle Ardyn.

 _Took me a while, but finally, I know my role in this world._

He had explained it to the three of them to make sure they understood what could happen if they failed and why he was training them the way he was. Where there was light, there would always be shadows. The four of them were all deemed 'dead' at this point, all at different points in time. No one expected any of them to influence any of the future events and that was their greatest advantage.

Their enemies would only be accounting for Noctis and his crew, maybe a few Astral interventions here and there, but nothing more than that. Let's face it, why would Niflheim even worry about four people against their master plans? The only reason Noctis and co. weren't hunt down was because the King was toying with them as per Ardyn's suggestions. If he really wanted to, the four of them would be found and arrested without too much effort being put forth.

Heck, they shouldn't have escaped out of the Disc of Cauthess but Ardyn chose to let them live. Something just didn't feel right with the Chancellor's motives and though he had tried time and time again to find out just what it was he was trying to achieve, he got nothing but dead ends every single time.

Welp, when you didn't know how to win, you could at least do your best to buy time and not lose. Naruto had stressed to the three of them that it was imperative that Lunafreya and Noctis must _both_ be alive for them to mount a proper comeback. The Oracle knew of the power driving the darkness in the world and had the ability to counter it. Noctis was the Chosen One to conquer said darkness and relieve the world of its presence. They were simply destined to be together and once the balance was broken, the world would immediately plunge into a state of chaos and disorder.

Naturally, that meant time was against them. They needed a _lot of_ improvement to be able to utilize the 'blink' or basically a modified version of the Hiraishin to make it a better Shunshin that used weapons as a conduct rather than the energy from within the person. He wasn't able to slow down time in this world at all, hence unable to use a 'power-up' chamber that would make time go by less in the chamber compared to the real world. Man, the power he could get one to gain if he had such a device! It was like this world had no concept of time magic whatsoever!

When he learnt of Magic, he was thinking of all the possible things one could do, the first thing being speeding up time for just yourself, which would make Hiraishin an absolute cheat code. The amount of pranks you could pull off in literally a second…

Obviously, the world foresaw this development and disappointed him when such applications were nowhere to be found. He had quizzed King Regis for days trying to find some sort of loophole that would help him find an answer, but alas, to no avail.

Libertus, Crowe and Nyx were very talented and had ample room for development, if only he had the time to really teach them everything he knew. Kage Bunshin learning was unteachable to anyone else because there was no way to show someone who couldn't even sense chakra to produce a Bunshin. Again cheat code denied by the logic of the Universe.

Naruto had never been more thankful for seals in his life. As long as he designed the intent and function of the seal, they could automatically carry our chakra usage and distribution for the user so that they didn't have to worry about anything but drainage on their capacity. Instead of needing to learn how to use stuff, they just have to worry about if they have enough energy to use it; much simpler to teach.

It did help that he was a Master of Seals and could do his best to make sure the input was minimal whilst the output was maximal because otherwise, the three of them would die from just a single use of 'blink' but hey, details.

With Nyx and Crowe, they were already nimble in their movements and brushing up their stealth wouldn't take more than a few days. Libertus on the other hand, still sported an injured leg, and as such needed something else to work on. Naruto had since come up with an intriguing weapon design for him and was testing it out to see if his theories would work.

It was quite simply, a chain and a hook attached to the end of it (hence chain-hook, Naruto's naming sense for the win). The idea was to wield the chain like a combination of whip and bo whilst using the hook for stealthy pick-offs whenever possible. Being able to grapple using the hook would give him quite a large variety of positioning options in all sorts of terrains and a certain level of safety in crowd control situations.

A shield as a secondary weapon would be nice, but a bit too cumbersome to carry around at all times. The solution would have to be sealing them into a scroll for them since it wouldn't take too much energy to summon them out or put them back in, and it would act as a surprise factor in the right situations. The only difficulty was trying to get Libertus to learn how to wield both his 'weapons'.

The chain-hook was difficult enough as it was, and one typically couldn't do much more than close-range whacks with the shield. Naruto was currently tweaking the seals on it to see if he could make the shield 'blink' instead. Imagine flinging the shield out almost like a boomerang through tons of enemies, only they wouldn't be able to actually see it; that was the aim of the 'experiment' whilst Libertus continued his arduous task of throw, hook and retract. It really wouldn't be of much use if you couldn't accurately lock onto the enemy you were picking off because the clang it created when you missed would no doubt tip off the enemy of your presence.

"Trust me, Lib, I got this." Naruto reassured the man as he put the finishing touches on the shield, "This will be the key for you to take out those pesky flying enemies you've always hated." Naturally, he would also need to work on making the chain-hook auto-retractable and of adequate length to make sure it didn't impede Libertus' progress. An alternate tweak would be to allow the hook to go through space (i.e hooking someone through walls, floors and around corners even though the enemy couldn't see them), but that would take a _lot_ of work, so he put that off for now; it was an interesting possibility for the future though.

"I don't know, Leader. Nyx got those fancy ninja star things you've given him and Crowe's got those crazy fast-firing pistols… this chain hook really seems underwhelming." You really couldn't blame the guy. If someone told you your choice of weapon was a chain against robots that had machine guns, you probably wouldn't be too happy either.

"Haha! You know I'm always fair to you guys and there is always a reason I do what I do." Naruto teased as he handed the shield over to the brown-haired man, letting him test it out.

"Yeah but – whoa, what the…" Libertus blinked as the shield disappeared the moment it left his hand and reappeared through the sky, spinning as though he had flung it with all his might before disappearing and returning to his hand without him even meaning to do so.

"Still think I'm being bias?" Naruto teased as Libertus quickly shook his head, "Nyx got shurikens because he's more suited to flanking. Long-range projectile weapons suit his style perfectly. Crowe got the latest version of the Empire's pulse pistols that I've requested from my insider because she needed a close range weapon that could do a ton of damage when she's not blasting people to smithereens with her long range magic."

Giving him a slap on the shoulder, Naruto continued, "And you have gotten your weapons because you are going to be a one-man apocalypse!" An evil cackle left his throat as he raised his hands to the air, "Mwaahahahaha!"

Libertus could only sweatdrop as he tried to reign in Naruto's 'enthusiasm', "Erm, Leader, Mad-scientist vibes."

"Mwaha- oh shit, I've doing that more and more lately." The blond cleared his throat quickly, before continuing on in a normal manner, "Your physical strength is way above the others, Lib. You need to take full advantage of it. Sure I could turn you into a full-time sniper but I doubt that's your style?"

Libertus rolled his eyes, "Leader, I think we've both established my aim is, and will forever be, atrocious. Let's not even go there."

"Right? I'm being completely honest with you here; I feel that you fight best when you're in a brawl. Physical close range combat, no bullshit, just fist on fist. You follow?"

"Well, yeah."

"With your size and strength, you could easily overwhelm ninety percent of your enemies, be it human, monsters or robots. Even for monsters taller than you, as long as you get them in the right position, you would still be able to overpower them. Whilst Nyx is annoying the enemy from the side and Crowe is providing you with longe range cover, look at your weapons and tell me what you would do?"

Libertus stayed silent for a few seconds as he ran the scenario through his head, "Well, I would throw the shield for a distraction and hook them by the neck."

"Yep, but that's just for single enemies. What about groups of them?"

"Provide cover for myself as I try to trip them all with the chain before all three of us swoop in for the kill."

"Hence, one man apocalypse, mwahah… never mind. But you get the idea."

"I do, I'm just not sure if I have the finesse required to wield this thing properly…"

"Heh, don't worry, I'll show you the way. It's a lot easier than you think. We'll run through the motions but it's more about understanding the characteristic of your weapon more so than blindly wielding it to get a feel of it. Muscle memory is indeed important, but getting the basics down is even more so. Just because your leg's injured doesn't mean we can't work on other stuff."

"Alright, Leader, I'll get this thing down."

"Good man."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"The Fulgurian really isn't making things easy for us, huh?" Prompto chirped as they continued on their respective chocobos to the final runestone.

"Well, it is a trial after all." Ignis responded as he looked at the map to make sure they were staying on course, ignoring the perpetual storm that loomed across the sky.

"All of this just feels so surreal. Form pacts with the Astrals really blows things out of proportion, doesn' it?" Gladiolus shook his head as he remembered the feel of magic that pulsed through Noctis after each runestone they've visited.

"But like, who _is_ Gentiana?"

"No idea. She's always been with Luna as far as I know, though if you were to ask me what her role is, I wouldn't have a clue." The Prince answered passively as he reminisced the moment when Luna had told him the Crystal's calling. At that time, he didn't actually know what he was supposed to do, but for Luna, he had decided he would do whatever it took to keep her happy.

 _Go forth and conquer your destiny, o King of Light._

Well, he now had a better understanding of what that actually meant, but he still didn't know how he was meant to _actually_ save the world. It just didn't seem feasible for him to have this power that no one knew about to help him in his cause. For him, the enemy was the Empire, so did that mean by defeating Niflheim, he would 'save the world'?

Is that why Luna was going around to the Astrals, seeking assistance from them for his sake so that he would have enough firepower when the final moment came to end it all?

If so, why didn't his father tell him any of this? Wouldn't it make sense to prepare him more? Sensei seemed to take his training quite seriously, but he never expected for it to be because of this sort of thing. Luna had that crazy fox with her, but even so, he was still worried for her.

His only true motivation at this moment wasn't because of some grand purpose that was forced upon him to save the world. It was because he wanted to meet Luna again, after all these years. The same girl that had given him hope and brought him out of his depression, the girl who had given him meaning in life and taught him so much about the Astrals, the girl that he wanted to protect above all else.

 _Just a little bit longer before I see you again Luna, I won't let you down._

***** ~ XV ~ *****

The cool night breeze flowed through the area as Naruto disengaged from his meditation. His clone was helping Crowe with the cooking whilst Nyx and Libertus tidied up the training area. Maintaining his connection with the essence of Nature was always a rejuvenating experience, one that he had grown quite accustomed to over the years. The feel of the energy flow would always give him an inkling as to the current state of the world. At this stage, the Starscourge remained dormant, without much increase in activity, which was quite a relief. Kurama hadn't sent him any danger signals either, so it was safe to deduce Luna was perfectly fine on their trip to Altissia.

He had sent a clone to Duscae to have him observe the weather in that area earlier on in the day and when the knowledge was finally transferred back to him, it would seem that the Prince had successfully completed the pact with Ramuh, obtaining the Mark of Fulgurian. That gave little Noctis two summons to work with before he would go to Altissia.

Against Leviathan, Ramuh was clearly the best suited to take her down, so that was always a plus, though knowing the prideful Empress of the Sea, Naruto doubted that using such a method would gain her respect. She most likely would only relent if Noctis were to defeat her using just his own powers.

What a pity… One Judgement Bolt would have been enough too… And if that wasn't, surely a Gaia's Wrath would finish her off?

"No, it won't." A frosty whisper echoed in his ears as a familiar woman appeared beside him.

"You've gotta be kidding me." As though this occurrence was a common thing, Naruto wasn't even surprised as he turned towards Gentiana, "How strong is she?"

The Ice Queen shrugged playfully in reply, "She's in her element. As long as she's in the sea, one would find it hard pressed to defeat her."

"Tsk, pesky home-ground advantage."

Chuckling, she gave him a playful pinch on the cheek, "Don't be salty now."

"I'm just calling it as it is. Couldn't you just freeze the sea for them so that she can't move around?"

"Hm, I don't know." That luscious smile of hers never left her lips, "Sounds like a lot of work."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto retorted, "All you gotta do is put your foot in the water."

"But I don't like seawater."

The deadpan that followed her comment was quite hilarious had anyone else been around to witness it, but as it stood, Gentiana was more than used to this expression of his and hence simply chuckled, "Some gentleman you are, forcing a lady to do such unspeakable things."

"What unspeakable things?! I'm just telling you to take a dip in the sea to help save the world!"

"I'm not going to comply to your desires just because you want to see me naked."

The blond was about to retort before her comment registered fully in his mind and his eyes unwillingly took one quick glance at the succulent curves of the Ice Queen.

"Pervert."

"You made me do it!" Naruto waved his arms around vehemently, "Besides, I don't want to see you naked, _well I do_ but that's not what I mean!"

"You're contradicting yourself, dear."

"No, I'm not! Me wanting to see you naked in the sea with Leviathan raging in the background and me wanting to see you naked with me in a hot spring is completely different!"

"Hm, I must admit I've never really visited a hot spring."

"No, I didn't mean that, I meant the shower, no the spa pool, no the bedroom – GAAAAAH!"

"Ara, ara."

"Just kill me. Please, I beg you. You're way more powerful than Ardyn, just kill me now." The almighty Sage was now kneeling before her, begging pitifully for some way to end his embarrassment. You really couldn't blame the poor guy, he was just being open and honest.

Their usual banter was about to continue before Naruto's cellphone rang. Springing up from his kneeling posture, he answered it as though nothing out of the ordinary happened, "Yeah?"

" _Just letting you know that Ravus is on his way to sort out your kids."_

"Ravus?" Naruto frowned, "You're sure?"

" _No, I'm just calling you for fun because I have so much spare time."_

"Gee Aranea, a bit strong with the sarcasm there. Someone piss you off today?"

" _You always piss me off, Uzumaki."_

With that, the phone tone went dead, signaling the other party had terminated their conversation.

Sighing, he pocketed the phone before he stared off into the distance, "Probably a bit too soon for Noctis."

"My, my, such a lack of confidence in your pupil."

Placing his arm around Gentiana as she leaned into his shoulder, he sighed, "Ravus swapped his arm for a daemon one. He volunteered himself for experiments to get more power, presumably because the Ring of Lucii rejected him. With only five Royal Arms by his side, it'll be a bit difficult for Noctis to counter the pure strength and power Ravus recently got."

"They do have four people."

"Not enough. Prompt and Iggy's attacks won't do much at all and while Gladio's strength is formidable, it'll pale in comparison to the daemon strength Ravus should now have."

"So you believe he'll kill them?"

"Sigh, that's the thing. I don't think he will." Naruto scratched his head in puzzlement, "He's a very confusing boy, that one. One minute he wants to kill everyone for power, the next he's all subdued and wanting to help his sister."

"That's why I love humans, so many different sides to them." Gentiana laughed gently as memories flashed past her eyes, "Yes… so many different sides."

"Even when they all tried to kill you?" Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yes, even then. They all banded together to fight against a force that was far more powerful than any of them, and yet they managed to succeed. That alone is impressive."

"You're way too nice, Gentiana." The blond grinned as his hand moved to ruffle the Ice Queen's immaculate hair, only for her to de-materialize a second later, leaving his hand hanging in the air with her silky voice echoing in his ears, "We're not that different, Naruto."

As the frost in the air slowly dissipated, he felt a light kiss on his cheek as her voice murmured amorously once more, _"That's why I like you."_

A few moments of silence ensued before Naruto dropped his hand back down, laughing into the night sky as he remembered the many, many times his best friend had tried to kill him and all the many friends he had made that were all enemies prior to their meeting. His life had been nothing but eventful encounters all over the world, and now here he was, in Eos, participating in something he wouldn't even dream of doing when he was child.

"Not that different, eh?" The Sage shook his head slowly as he got up from the ground and dusted himself off, before making his way back into the cottage as his clone had just dissipated, informing him dinner's ready, "I'll see you in Altissia."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"There, that's the Imperial base that Cindy mentioned." Prompto lowered his binoculars as the four gathered around camp for one final pep talk before they engaged the enemy.

"Alright boys, we'll sneak in from the back and make sure not to be seen by those magitek soldiers. The last thing we need is for the entire base to come down on us."

"Roger that! Ignis, have you got the map?"

"Yeah, I've got it with me. Now Noct, we're relying on your warping abilities to take out any snipers that might be parked on high ground."

"Leave it to me. One strike is all I need."

"Gladio, you and Prompto take the right side and try and locate the Magitek generator. Noct and I will try and locate the Regalia. Once you find the generator, send us a signal and we'll rush those troops."

"Will do."

"Noct? Tonight might be a good time to try out the Thunder God's powers."

"Heh, you don't have to tell me twice." Said Prince smirked as he eyed the Imperial Base with determination, "Let's go!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid_

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. Work has been very busy. A quick quiz for you guys: Does anyone recognize what characters I'm modelling Libertus, Nyx and Crowe's abilities after? Let me know what you think in the reviews. Cheers guys.**_


	7. Chapter 6: Be Very, Very Quiet

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 6: Be Very, Very Quiet**

It was times like this that Noctis was really grateful for the stealth training that Naruto made him go over and over when he was young. Every little boy dreamt to be a hero at some stage, wanting to wield the mightiest weapons, the strongest magic and the most devastating artefacts. For the Prince, that moment came when his mother died before his very eyes. He couldn't do anything to stop the impending doom; he was absolutely helpless and he would always hold that guilt with him till the end of time.

Gone was the naïve, cheerful boy and in its place, an apathetic, bitter child appeared. King Regis did the best he could to shower his son with care and love, but mental scars weren't easily soothed. Naturally, Noctis started working out with Gladiolus to learn the basics of combat so that he would be way more prepared should the same situation arise again.

It wasn't much longer after that when his father introduced him to a new teacher, a man with spiky blond hair and the weirdest birthmarks he had ever seen on anyone's face. He hadn't taken him seriously at all, considering how the idiot had this huge grin on his face literally twenty-four seven. He was just way too happy for Noctis' liking, too carefree, too relaxed in life. There was just no way this man could teach him anything of use, since he clearly didn't understand the pain of losses in life.

All 'training sessions' with him was carried out half-heartedly, with no real effort put into it. It was clear as a day to everyone else that he didn't like the blond but surprisingly, no one made a comment about it. Gladiolus had wanted to whack him on the head many, many times, only to hold himself back each time with a begrudging look to their sensei, before pretending he didn't see the Prince's blatant insubordination (by Gladiolus' books of course).

This went on for about a week before 'that event' happened. It was as cliché as it got. He had skipped out on their training session with the blond because he was bored and it wasn't like he would face repercussions anyway (that sensei had never punished him at all). The garden was always a nice place for him to take a nap so he figured he would catch some Zs.

He lay down, closed his eyes, and was prepared to enter into deep slumber before he was woken up rather abruptly by a loud and wet 'splat'.

Sputtering as he tried to regain his bearings and composure as he wiped the water off his face, he looked around wildly, trying to figure out where the water balloon had come from. In that next second, he was treated to yet another serving of it. And another, and another and _another_.

It didn't take long for him to start running. There was just no time for him to even _try_ and locate the 'enemy'. The water balloons just kept coming, from _all_ directions too! It was like a hundred different people were pelting him with them at the same time, but that couldn't _possibly_ be true!

Regardless, a man knew when to cut his losses, and so Noctis had fled that the scene (in a very undignified matter), only to be pelted with more water balloons. After what felt like an entire century of running, he found himself out of breath and soaked to the bones outside of the training facility. Inside, sitting right in the centre of the dojo, was the blond sensei with that signature vulpine grin, staring at him ever so innocently, "Oh hello there, Noctis, how kind of you to join us!"

He was absolutely speechless as his mouth opened and closed like that of a fish, his mind unable to process any words as Gladiolus guffawed at his current state whilst Ignis fought hard to hold a chuckle back. Both of them would gladly describe to you in great detail the dishevelled state of Noctis at that point in time, as well as the look of absolute disbelief he had on his face.

The Garden was about ten minutes away from the dojo. The water balloons had literally bombarded him all along the way non-stop. It was pretty damn obvious who the culprit was, yet there he was, acting as if he had no idea what just happened.

" _Well then, it looks like you've had a lot to deal with Noctis, why don't you take the day off and get yourself cleaned up? You might get a cold if you don't hurry."_

For some reason, even to this day, he was sure that had he chosen to do as the blond said, he would never have established the same kind of relationship he had with him today. It was almost as if it was a test, and naturally, given his pride, tenacity and an overwhelming urge to wipe that smug smirk off of his sensei's face, Noctis had smiled in reply.

" _Oh no, I'm perfectly fine. I'm sorry I'm late, Sensei. A black cat crossed my path and made me fall into the pond. I'll give myself and wipe and join you guys in five minutes."_

Though the blond constantly denied it, Noctis swore that those cerulean eyes of his lit up at his reply and his smirk was so wide you could fit a Catoblepas into it.

" _Very well then. I would expect nothing less from the Prince of Lucis."_

Ignoring the teasing and ribbing he got from his two friends, the training carried on as per normal that day, though that wasn't what made it memorable. No, it was because this day signified the start of a pretty epic pranking war.

Day after day, night after night, Noctis would try all that he could to get back at his sensei. Everything from firing paint balloons, booby trapping everything and anything the blond would come into contact with and trying to sabotage meals so that the soup would be insanely salty. All the maids and butlers in the palace would remember the horrifying (aka entertaining) shrieks of the Prince as all his plans backfired on him in grave (aka hilarious) ways.

Even the King wasn't exempt from Noctis' attempts as he witnessed his son pleasantly greeting the blond as per norm, before offering one of those moogle dolls that the Amicitia girl made for him. The Prince then requested in a cute manner for the blond to give it a hug. Complying with his request, he did so easily, making extra effort to show that he truly did care for the doll with an extremely strong hug, before returning it to the flabbergasted Prince. It didn't take the King long to understand why his son was so confused when the doll exploded with paint the moment it was returned to him, covering him in red.

The blond had made a chirpy comment about how his son looked absolutely dashing in that colour, causing the young boy to yell out in rage, before stomping off to the bath once again. The number of times he's had to take a bath over the past week or so had grown exponentially. Everyone in the vicinity gave a good chuckle, as though this had become a daily occurrence (it had), and went about their lives as usual.

" _Naruto-kun, I apologize for my son. I'll make sure to reprimand him for even thinking of –"_

" _Nah, don't do that. I haven't had a good pranking opponent for quite some time now. It's all good, don't worry about it."_

The King was sure the blond was just being polite, until the blond spoke with a confident smile.

" _Besides, he doesn't look so gloomy all the time anymore, eh?"_

That was indeed the truth, for Noctis no longer had time to be upset. Everything he had tried to do to get back at the blond had failed miserably. Even a dumbass would have realized that there was just no way he could come out on top in this pranking war. No one got away _unscathed_ every single time he tried something. There was no magic involved either, so that wasn't the reason why he was able to repel all his attacks.

For the next three weeks, repeats of this type of incidents reoccurred all over the palace, and the entire atmosphere was a lot lighter. Some people were actually looking forward to the pranks now, considering how some of them were really quite unorthodox and showed some careful planning. It made it even more comical when the blond would dismantle said 'plans' with ease.

In the end, Noctis could take it no longer and marched directly to his sensei's residence and demanded to speak to him.

" _How in the world do you do it?!"_

" _Why, whatever do you mean?"_

" _Don't play dumb! You knew exactly what I was doing yet I couldn't get the best of you!"_

" _So you admit to wanting to prank me?"_

" _Yes, yes I do! I don't care if I have to face punishment or whatever, please just tell me! I have to know!"_

The blond had burst out into laughter at the determined proclamation of the Prince, before beckoning the boy forward.

" _If I told you, I can walk without sound, travel at the speed of light and make clones of myself, would you believe me?"_

That was a sentence he would never forget, which was what brought a smirk onto his face as he crept up within warping distance of a sniper before he took him out in swift move, eliminating him as a threat as they proceeded through the Imperial Base. Ignis was scouting out the place on the low ground, whilst he manoeuvred his way skilfully and easily across the towers. Compared to the obstacle courses that his sensei had thrown at him, this was _nothing_.

The blond had really done it. He walked without sound, travelled at the speed of light and could make multiple solid, sentient copies of himself, _without magic_. Dumbfounded didn't even begin to describe what Noctis had felt at that moment.

" _B-but but but how?!"_

" _Would you like to learn?"_

" _Why wouldn't I?! Wait, you're willing to teach me?"_

" _Of course, that's what I was sent to do after all."_

" _E-even though I – "_

" _Even though you tried to prank, shame and humiliate me. Yes."_

" _Urgh."_

" _Now then, shall we start over?"_

" _Huh?"_

" _My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you."_

" _Ah… Erm, my name is Noctis Lucis Caelum, nice to meet you… Sensei!"_

It was absolutely fascinating learning from the blond. Gone were the boring lessons and typical physical exercises, and in their place, all sorts of intriguing and unorthodox training plans were introduced. When asked why he didn't just start off with all these interesting workouts, Naruto simply flicked him on the forehead and teased, _"You wouldn't have cared. It was just exercise to you. I had to get your attention first."_

Gladiolus and Ignis both joined in the training as well, because they were tasked to protect the Prince at all costs, so it was quite obvious that they should undergo the same training. Noctis had expected Gladiolus to gripe more, simply because Naruto had worked on things that weren't just brute strength and power.

For an entire year, Naruto had worked on _stealth_. To some, that was just ridiculous because that took way too long, but Noctis knew that his sensei felt even that wasn't enough. Stealth was a broad subject, ranging from being able to move undetected, being able to blend in with the crowd and being able to diminish one's presence to scouting areas, finding advantageous points and physical conditioning.

Finesse and flexibility were definitely key aspects of their training, especially for Noctis, considering how aerial combat required perfect balance, orientation and poise. Gladiolus had taken the training very seriously and had no complaints because he could easily see the benefits in it for him. For his size, no one would expect him to pull off acrobatic moves easily, so it was an easy advantage already. No fighter would complain about having more weapons in your arsenal to face your enemies with.

Ignis took to the training marvellously, learning everything Naruto taught with utmost efficiency and style. Even the primary weapons that he used were from a suggestion by the blond, stating that the daggers would only serve to increase his prowess with stealthy, disorienting close-range combat. Needless to say, all three of them really looked up to Naruto since he could do pretty much everything in their eyes.

Till this day, none of them believed he was dead, as everyone had claimed. There was just no way, and the entire circumstance behind his 'MIA' status was suspicious. One would have to be an absolute moron to believe that a man that could stand up to a thousand magitek infantries and not suffer a single wound could possibly be felled that easily. Noctis and co. knew a lot more about Naruto than the rest of the world, for just before Naruto's official entrance into the Army, he had shared his life story with them, wanting to give them some encouragement to make sure they stay focused in life.

" _You've got this kid, I believe in you!"_

He didn't really understand the severity behind that statement because he had assumed his sensei simply trusted him to be a great King later on in his life, but then it all turned into a horrifying nightmare when recent events unfolded. Judging from the teachings from Naruto, Noctis knew that there was more going on in the background than he was aware of, which was why he was almost desperate to see Lunafreya again.

It would make sense that she had the answers and the fact that the crazy fox was still with her meant that Naruto had taken due care into making sure no harm was to go her way. His goal wasn't to beat Niflheim it seemed; there must be something else in the play here, but he just didn't know what.

"Noct, two snipers, three o'clock position."

"On it." Summoning up his magic, he performed a silent warp behind said enemies and took them out in one clean move.

Best focus on finding the Regalia first. Without her, travelling alone would take forever, much less worry about fighting the Empire. By the time they made their way there on foot, the whole world would have ended.

Just as he rolled his eyes at that ridiculous thought, a humongous explosion flared off in the distance, signalling that Gladiolus and Prompto had accomplished their mission.

"Engage!"

"Armiger, activate!"

It was time to beat some robots into submission.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"You're that positive they'll barge into a base filled with soldiers on the lookout for them just to get an old car back?" Emperor of Niflheim, Iedolas Aldercapt, mumbled in a disinterested manner from the screen.

"But of course, Your Highness. That sense of sentimentality runs in their family after all."

"Very well then, go." Without any further instruction, the King gave a dismissive wave before he disappeared off the screen.

Giving an amused whistle of relief, Ardyn Izunia looked over to the high Commander by his side, "He sure is scary sometimes, isn't he?"

"His Majesty is succinct and direct; efficient is what I would call it." Ravus Nox Fleuret ignored the exaggerations of the Chancellor, and gave a generic, respectful reply.

"Such loyalty to the Empire, as expected from the Prince of Tenebrae."

The white-haired commander ignored the obvious mocking attempt from the Chancellor and instead gave a short bow, "If that is all, I shall go and check on the Bridge. It shouldn't be long before we reach our destination."

"Sure, sure. Oh yes, make sure to tell Captain Highwind to be ready as well. It wouldn't do for us to not put on a show now, would it?"

Ravus gave a slight pause, before turning an indifferent glance to him, "What are you playing at here?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Ardyn asked in that sardonic tone of his.

"You've known about the whereabouts of the four of them all this time, yet only now are you making a report to the Emperor." The Tenebrae Prince met the gaze of Ardyn straight on, unflinching from those cunning orbs of his as he continued, "You intentionally placed the Regalia in a base where security as at a minimum to make it easier for them to get it back."

Turning around fully to face the Chancellor, Ravus finished by confronting the man, "With all due respect, it seems as if you're actually _helping_ them, wouldn't you say so?"

"Hm, you don't say?" Needless to say, Ardyn simply waved off his concerns and continued with his patronizing tone, "This, coming from the man who has yet to track down one silly little girl?"

Ravus' fist clenched tightly at the mention of his sister, though his face was schooled into that of indifference, "We have already deduced her next location to be at Altissia, so it's only a matter of time before we corner her."

The Chancellor gave a sarcastic laugh, "I certainly hope so. It wouldn't make sense if she _somehow escaped_ from us again."

"Be that as it may, what is your motive then, oh great Chancellor?"

Running his hand through his immaculately groomed hair, Ardyn gave a feisty smirk, "I'm just luring them into a false sense of security, my dear Commander." Staring out the window of the airship, his eyes almost glowed with glee as he traced the outline of the sky, "Don't you know? In order to break someone completely, you must give him hope. Only when one has hopes, does he have something to fight for. And when that something he fights for turns out to betray those very hopes… my, oh my, I can almost taste the delicious despair that would make one beg for death."

Slanting his eyes back to the High Commander, he drawled, "Does that answer your question?"

Not bothering to indulge the Chancellor in his crazy fantasies, Ravus gave a curt nod and excused himself from the communications room.

Ardyn shook his head in amusement as he turned back towards the beautiful night scenery, "Such a pathetically conflicted individual; destined to struggle throughout the course of his life." Taking a sip from the wine glass next to him, the Chancellor chose to focus his mind instead on a possible future encounter.

 _The Prince will be following the path I set out for him and nobody, not even his beloved sensei, would be able to stop it. I can't wait for them all to understand the utter futility in their actions and how meaningless their lives are in my grand scheme. How I've waited all these years… No matter, just a little bit longer before it all comes to fruition. Yes, just a little bit longer._

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"A-CHOO!"

"What the hell Leader?! Did you just sneeze in your sleep?"

"Zzzzzzz…"

"How in the world do you even do that?"

"Don't bother Libertus."

"Of course you would say that. You're not the one with snot all over your face!"

"Will you guys quieten down?! My body is sore in places I didn't even think possible and I desperately need this rest, so Eos help me if you don't shut the _fuck_ up this instant, I swear to the Astrals I'll beat the absolute _shit_ out of you. Are we _clear?_ "

"Yes Mdm."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Okay, something just isn't right. How many of these do they have?" Prompto whined as he quickly reloaded his gun yet again. The wonders of being able to store your ammo in a different dimension and being able to summon it using Noctis' magic was just too good. He had seen it done in video games before, but to experience it in real life was a completely different story.

Gladiolus would do his thing, breaking anything and everything that entered his line of sight with that gigantic butcher knife of his. Noctis wasn't far behind using a multitude of weapons to inflict painful 'death' to the infantries (or just computer shut down). Ignis was by their side, supporting them with potions every now and then and the occasional Fira that pretty much blew everything up. Him? He just stayed waaaaay far back and was having fun firing at all the moving enemies. Good thing he was pretty damn good at fps games.

That aside, it truly felt weird. It wasn't like the enemies were extremely tough or anything; it was just that they 'respawned' over and over, or at least that was what it felt like. They were more of a hassle than an actual threat, but all four of them knew that the longer they lingered in this place, the higher the chances of an enemy General would show up and interfere with their retrieval of the Regalia.

"Oi Noct! Now might be a good time to get some help!" Gladiolus growled as he fended off five infantries with his Greatsword, "Now back off! Impulse!" With ease, the Amicitia cleaved the robots into half with a swift front sweep, eliminating them from the battlefield.

"Any time now." Said Prince grumbled as he continued to fend off the onslaught. The thing with the Astrals was that he couldn't just _summon_ them whenever he felt like it. They were Gods after all, not pets that were waiting to be unleashed at his every beckon and call. In any case, the situation had to call for it before he could feel the mark of the different Astrals heat up, signifying the agreement from them to lend their assistance.

If he could summon them any time for any reason, then he might as well just march right into Niflheim and just tell them to blow the whole city up. Sure the Empire managed to subdue the Ice Queen, but even then it took a very careful, collaborated effort by almost ten thousand soldiers plus some very advanced technology. It wasn't going to be nearly as 'simple' to stop two of them _at the same time_.

Either way, the fight had been dragging on for far too long and just as he thought that, the Mark of the Fulgurian answered his call and not wanting to waste any more time, he called forth on his power, "Descend from the Heavens and unleash judgement upon my enemies, oh great Wizard of the Six!"

"Oh shit." Prompto saw the incoming storm clouds gather and the static in the atmosphere becoming visible to the naked eye, "Gather them up!"

"Here we go!" Without any further ado, the Amicitia leapt high into the air and rammed his shield into the ground, generating a fearsome shockwave in the area, blasting the nearby soldiers towards the photographer of the crew, "Cyclone!"

Readying his Machinery, Prompto aimed his Bio Blaster Plus right at the 'rain' of enemies towards him and launched a gravitational sphere into the sky, "Suck it!"

All remaining infantries in the area were now gathered up within the sphere, the gravitational forces pulling them together as tight as possible, preventing any from escaping the incoming attack.

"Regroup, _now!_ "

Without hesitation, Gladiolus and Prompto immediately left their positions and rushed back to Ignis' side, where he was able to give them a quick breather to recover their injuries with a nicely place Mega Elixir, one that he had managed to concoct via Alchemy using the residual magic in the air during their time of battle.

In that time, the great Ramuh had already made his appearance, his long, white beard billowing in the wind whilst his crimson eyes surveyed the situation at hand. Pure electrical energy coursed through his entire body as he pulled his arm back, and condensed the powers of a thunderstorm into a familiar staff that most would recognize from the legends. No words were uttered, no boastful declarations were said. The fates of Noctis' enemies had already been decided.

The release of the pent up energy within the staff as it struck the area blew every enemy within its radius to smithereens. It was thanks to Noctis' incredible focus that the attack from Ramuh didn't flat out decimate the entire base, considering how much energy was present. Instead, he was able to direct the magic flow to only the enemies and kept the infrastructure intact, which was quite important considering the Regalia wouldn't be of much use to them if it became a heap of smoking junk.

Nevertheless, it was a spectacle to behold. Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto had already seen what the Titan was capable of, but that was mainly physical powers. Ramuh had just pretty much done the equivalent of casting Thundaga about nine hundred times with one Judgment Bolt, with _one_ attack. One would shudder to think what they could accomplish if they were actually fighting properly.

"Daaaaayum!" Prompto gushed as he looked at the pile of smoking rubbish in the middle of the base, "Talk about overkill!"

"True that." Gladiolus shook his head as he eyed their surroundings, "Alright, the coast seems clear, let's go get the Regalia and get the hell out of here."

Noctis took in a deep breath as he let the power fade from him, silently whispering a quick 'thank you' to the Fulgurian as the Wizard disappeared from their view. During that entire sequence, he could experience the extent of the power held by the Thunder God. It was intoxicating and very humbling at the same time. This was why Luna went through all that effort just to plead with the Astrals to make a pact with him. It just put things in perspective once again because he now had much more confidence in himself, knowing that he had some really powerful allies on his side.

 _Sigh, though the chances of them appearing at all are completely random…_

Shaking his head, he focused on the objective instead. No point dwelling on this small victory while there were bigger fish to fry. His sensei would absolutely kick his ass if he found out he was relying on some godly powers instead of actually strengthening himself.

In the time of his little lapse of attention, Prompto had re-emerged from a control room nearby and waved at them, "Hey guys, I've found the keys!"

"Excellent." Ignis smiled as he moved towards the blond, "Let's move out, we've wasted enough time here as it is."

"Hear, hear."

Noctis shook his head as he made his way towards the Regalia, "Heck, we need to get to a hotel ASAP; I'm absolutely knackered."

Things were finally looking good for them now. After this, they just need to meet up with Cid in Cape Caem to sort out a way to get to Altissia, where Luna was waiting for them and they should be all set –

 _Wait a second… something doesn't… feel right…_

Call it instinct.

Call it his sixth-sense.

Call it the survival ability he learned after having his sensei fling billions of shurikens/kunais at him during training.

He didn't know what it was, but something was off.

"Noct?"

Ignoring his friend's questioning wave, he continued to look all around him, just to make sure they weren't missing a hidden enemy.

"What's wrong?" Gladiolus asked as well, clearly sensing that the Prince was worried about something.

 _If you've checked left, right, front and back, and there's nothing around you… then you most definitely should check –_

"Spread out!" Instantly remembering the teachings of Naruto and feeling the alarm bell in his head ringing louder by the second, he issued a quick warning to his friends before staring up into the sky to confirm his paranoia.

"Huh, but why – "

Prompto didn't even get to finish the question as a spear crashed right into the spot where he was two seconds ago, the impact easily de-stabilizing the blond as he yelped in surprise, before a figure descended from the sky in one swift move and kicked him right in the spot where the diaphragm was, sending him flying through the air before landing in a wheezing heap on the floor, struggling to catch his breath.

"What the hell?!" Gladiolus reacted immediately, brandishing his Greatsword, ready to take on the intruder, only to be forced to twist his body to the right in order to avoid the spear that was flung right at his face, leaving his torso wide open.

"Gladio!" Ignis foresaw this happening and had flung his daggers at their enemy, hoping to distract the person long enough for Gladiolus to recover from his mistake, but alas, the intruder was way quicker than they expected and evaded the daggers easily with a graceful flip in mid-air, before blindsiding the Amicitia with a forceful body slam, sending him crashing flat onto his back.

With the enemy's back turned towards him, Ignis quickly took advantage of the opponent's need to recover from their string of attacks and retrieved his Drain Lance, intent on using Lancet to further weaken the enemy. Just as he went through with the piercing motion, said person simply launched back up into the air, and whilst she was halfway through the act of back-flipping, her spear caught onto his lance and using it as a technical pivot, he felt his weapon forced out of his hands before he was treated to a bicycle kick to the face, knocking him right on top of Gladiolus, eliciting a groan from the both of them as he landed.

Noctis could only gape as the woman who had rushed them brushed her hand elegantly through her long, velvety hair as she removed her helmet temporarily, giving them a full view of who it was that had actually been capable of incapacitating them with such ease.

Disdainful violet orbs stared back at them with obvious disapproval as her silky voice came out in a mocking drawl, "Here I was expecting so much more out of you guys." Shaking her head in displeasure, she ignored the incredulous looks from the four, "That lying son-of-a-bitch."

Brandishing her spear once again, she eyed the confused four with impatience, "Extremely competent, he said. Would kick my ass easy, he said. I'll show him!"

Seeing still no movement from the males, she roared yet again, "What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get your asses off the ground so I can kick the shit out of you!"

"Wait, wait, wait, who the hell are you?" Noctis yelled back as he quickly grouped up with the other three, readying their battle formation as he tried to get his head around the current situation. He couldn't make heads and tails from the muttering of the lady dressed in red and he really wasn't sure whether or not this was a serious fight because the woman clearly gave them time to recover.

"Keh, like I'll tell a bunch of wussies what my name is." Snorting, she placed her helmet back on, "You got five seconds before I rush you again."

"What?"

"Five!"

"What the heck is going on?!"

"One!"

"Hey that's cheating!"

"I haven't got the patience to wait for you pretty boys to get your shit in gear! Now die!"

"Gyaaaa! She's so scary!" Needless to say, Prompto didn't do very well with aggressive women.

Noctis immediately got his Ultima Blade out and clashed straight on with the crazy lady, "Grrr, are you with the Empire?"

"No, I'm actually a member of the Lucis Royal Family who's come all this way just to kiss your ass. _Of course_ I'm from the fucking Empire!" Breaking the deadlock, said female was just about to stab the Prince a good one when she was forced to disengage as Gladiolus had gone for a Dawnhammer during the clash and was about to cleave her into half had she not retreated.

Ignis in that time, finally managed to spot an insignia on her armour and quickly ran it through his memory banks before he alerted the others, "That's Aranea Highwind, captain of the Third Army Corps 86th Airborne Unit! She's famous for her aerial combat and Dragoon Lance!"

True to his words, Aranea chose that moment to execute a ridiculous mid-air manoeuvre to evade five pistol shots from Prompto, before deflecting Gladiolus' flung shield once again, and somehow managing to do an air-step, resetting her stance, allowing her to gain the height required for her to now perch on top of the monitoring tower nearby.

"Well, shit." Noctis grimaced at the clear skill in their enemy combined with a deadly elegance that had him quickly rethinking the idea of blatantly engaging her in airborne combat. Normally that was a plus on his side considering most enemies were absolutely helpless in the air and his ability to endlessly barrage them from all directions was his trump card. Somehow, he didn't feel that would work very well with this lady…

"Don't say I didn't warn you, but reinforcements are on their way." A fiery smirk graced her face as she chuckled, "You've got maybe three minutes to beat me if you want to get away on your toy truck."

"Hey! That's mean!"

Bracing himself, the Prince gave a feral grin that matched her intensity, "I guess we haven't got much choice then, have we?"

"Ha! When I'm done with you lot I'll have so much to gloat to that insufferable blond that he won't hear the end of it!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"A-A-A-CHOOOO!"

"God damn it Leader, what the hell?!"

"Zzzzz… Zzzzz... No you won't… Zzzz….Zzzz…"

"Don't bother Libertus."

"How does one sneeze _twice_ in the middle of the night?! The amount of snot on my face is unbelievable!"

"Grrrr…"

"You're on your own, mate."

"Huh? What are you on abou – Oh shit…"

"LIIII-BERRRRR-TUSSSSS!"

"Gyaaaaa, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, not the crotch, hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Got a bit carried away at the end. All in good fun. Noctis' flashback got away from me, hence why I didn't manage to finish Aranea's fight this chap. As usual, appreciate your reviews. Cheers guys.**_


	8. Chapter 7: Dressing Down

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 7: Dressing Down**

This woman was _good_.

If you had asked Prompto how long he could survive if he had to fight this blonde chick one on one, his answer would've been about one millisecond. First of all, she was totally his type, which meant he had already lost the mental battle, because surely a lady of such majesty and beauty could only be worshipped from a far! Secondly, his close-combat skills were pretty lacking, which was normally fine because he was more of a long-range harasser anyway. Gladiolus and Ignis took care of the frontal assaults most of the time. However, when you took them out of the equation, he was practically a sitting duck if he couldn't get some distance between himself and the enemy. Lastly, he was a bit of a scaredy-cat, meaning he over-reacted to any possibility of danger in very loud ways.

"Gyaaaaaa, save me guys!" Poor Prompto was currently the target that was being focused down by Aranea. The woman had expertly dismantled the pincer attack constructed by Gladiolus and Noctis and had gone straight for him. It was quite obvious to anyone who the weakest link in the crew was, and any warrior with a brain would know to take out the weakest first and work your way up to the 'boss'.

In the span of ten seconds, Prompto's voice had probably raised a couple of octaves in his shrieks of fear considering how close the Dragoon Lance came to piercing holes all over his slim body.

"Shit! Hang on!" Being the closest to his friend, Noctis immediately re-positioned himself, before launching right into the air, "Death Drop!"

In the blink of an eye, he had appeared directly above the Imperial Captain and with a somersault, hurled himself towards her, intent on taking her attention away from the photographer.

Aranea simply snorted as she brought her lance to the right, pivoted her body as she side-stepped the attack from the Prince, and gave a strong kick right into Prompto's abdomen, eliciting a painful 'oof' from him before sending him flying off into the distance.

"How nice of you to drop in, Prince!" Not letting up for a second, she switched her onslaught of attacks on to the next target in a heartbeat, "I've got to commend you on that, giving yourself up to save your friend, very admirable!" The savage grin on her face made it quite obvious that the sarcasm was real.

"Stop talking about it like my loss is confirmed!" Noctis growled as he phased through the piercing strikes one after the other, digging into his mana reserves as he waited on the opportunity to fight back. As great as she was on the offensive, they hadn't yet been able to exploit any openings since there were barely any, but Noctis was confident that somewhere along the line, she would slip up and that would be his chance to turn this battle around.

"Why, I would never do that! Triggering death flags is the job of the protagonist of course." It was quite worrying that her voice sounded so effortless and steady even as she performed outrageous moves with her lance.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to win the war of words with this woman, the Prince chose to glance over to his teammates, taking note of their respective positions before catching a signal from Ignis. The battle had already been going on for way longer than three minutes, and if what she said was true, then it wouldn't be hard to imagine that the reinforcements had actually already arrived and were simply surrounding the base to ensure there would be no escape for them.

It was a bit embarrassing to admit that their teamwork simply wasn't as good as they thought it was, considering how they had yet to even properly land consecutive hits on her. Sure they managed to break through her guard every now and then; however, she would recover from it easily and once again go on the offensive. She really pushed the boundaries of 'best defence is a good offence' and was rubbing it in their faces that the _four_ of them couldn't even get her to go onto the defensive side throughout the entire battle.

Part of it was their own fault, considering how they kept missing their link strikes. They each had their own 'go to combos' with each other, and Aranea had somehow managed to make every single one of them miss her. It was absolutely bizarre because it wasn't like they didn't fight nimble humans before, so why didn't it work for her?

It would seem that the window of opportunity to land the strike was just a bit too long for a professional like Aranea and she could see the attack coming from miles away. She seemed way more accustomed to one vs many brawls than they expected and took apart their 'strategies' with a proficient ease and calm that they had never encountered before. It was almost as if she had practised this sort of combat on a regular basis.

Needless to say, a certain blond had been 'bullied' into providing clones for said female to have _ample_ practice over the years to help better her combat prowess as compensation for 'pissing her off' all the time. Her current record was holding off thirty eight of them in one fight, which was pretty damn amazing. Granted, the clones simply emulated the skill level of Imperial Commanders and fought as close to them as possible, but being able to take on thirty eight of those was still impressive as heck. Though she chose to ignore this fact and continued to rub it in his face that she had beaten thirty eight versions of the blond, meaning she was that much more awesome than him. Said blond chose not to respond considering how he got a black eye the last time he protested. Some fights were lost before they even started.

Nevertheless, Noctis fought on bravely, waiting for the opportune moment that would surely appear once more. It was almost impossible to blindside this woman since she was just constantly switching her stances so that she would never be caught wrong-footed. Her balance and flexibility ensured her momentum would never slow down as she spun circles around them. If anything, she probably scored way more flanking hits on the four of them than they did on her!

"Dawnhammer!" A gruff voice rang through the area, switching Aranea's attention off Noctis for a short while.

"Geez, how many times will try that move to realize…" The Imperial Captain was about to dismiss the very obvious and strong attack from the Amicitia, only to stop halfway when she realized the man wasn't where she thought he would be.

Every single time this 'Dawnhammer' move had been unleased, it had always been from above. It made sense, considering how this move just screamed of 'powerhouse' with the triple somersaulting and twisting of body and all that fancy stuff before a gigantic butcher knife tried to cleave you into two. The Amicitia was even nice enough to announce that move every time he did it, making it all the more predictable. Seriously, it wasn't even a challenge to dodge out of its way considering it was quite a slow attack, and since he had already done it for like ten times already, it was almost like a combat reflex that made her look up _at the same spot_ _he had appeared every single time_.

Her thoughts went from "What the hell" to "You sly sons of bitches" within the span of a few seconds before she was actually caught off guard completely by the Amicitia appearing from _behind_ the Prince, barrelling right into her just as Noctis side-stepped away at the last possible moment, launching her right into the air.

It wasn't even a special technique or an ultimate move that caught her. It was just a good old-fashioned head-on charge. The only reason it worked so well was partly because Aranea had been underestimating them slightly, but also because Noctis' fighting style played the distraction role extremely well.

Prompto could harass you from the rear or the side by firing shots at you, but you could take him out simply by pushing the fight onto him, forcing him to engage, and he would be pretty much useless. Aranea made the mistake of thinking that was their only form of distraction that they could throw at her.

Out of the four of them, Noctis had the flashiest fighting style, relying on warps, blinks and magic to absolutely bewilder the opponent before taking them out. It was just so unpredictable and quick that most enemies would be disoriented for a short while, thereby giving Noctis the opening he required to take them out. Unless of course the opponent was way more powerful than him, then it would be a different story, but from what they've experienced so far, Aranea wasn't that far off their skill level. Sure she was good, but she wasn't _sensei_ good, if that made any sense. Noctis could hardly remember a time where he got his ass kicked as hard as his 'graduation' ceremony. It was a physical and mental beat down that he would never forget; which was probably why he really wasn't fazed by all these monsters he had seen along the journey so far. Nothing on Eos could possibly compare to that insane fox…

"Noct! Get her!"

With Aranea in the air, his next course of action was simple. Using a technique that was almost second nature to him by now, he took to the sky, "Let's see how your airborne combat prowess compares to my Airstep!"

Said woman had quickly repositioned herself mid-air and was more than ready to take on the Prince, "Bring it, pretty boy!"

It was a pretty close contest where neither of them held the advantage. Not many hits landed for either of them considering the other would simply opt to dodge the attack rather than clash. The most important thing for airborne combat was… obviously staying airborne. Being caught in a deadlock meant a halt in movement, which pretty much led to gravity claiming someone. Trying to get out of falling was not an easy task with someone raining attacks on you.

"Good, good, very good!" Aranea laughed as she weaved around the attacks, watching as the Prince tried to overwhelm her with numerous midair attacks, hoping to catch her off-guard with the changes in direction, but she had far too much experience when it came to these tactics, and forcefully engaged him, forcing him into a deadlock, "But not good enough!"

Strength-wise, she had thought she had the clear upper-hand. There was just no way this royal pretty boy with his slim figure could possibly match her power… until she realized she couldn't fling him aside with her lance, "What the?"

Instead of the usual sword that the Prince had brandished at the start of the battle, she found that her lance was now locked in place by two daggers, even as he grinned in triumph, "We'll see about that! Prompto!"

"Shock Drop!" A ball of electricity was fired right at them even as Noctis put all his weight onto his weapons, forcing a descent towards it.

"Oh no, you don't!" Aranea snarled as she let go of her lance, freeing up her body as she managed a quick back-flip, her boots coming up from the side aiming right at Noctis' cheek, forcing him to release his hold on her weapon, whilst narrowly avoiding the attack at the same time.

This time though, the Prince didn't seem to have a care for her kick, letting it connect with him. Alarm bells instantly rang in her head as her kick connected with nothing but thin air, showing the hologram that was the Prince dissipate into nothingness.

"Ignis!"

"Here you go!" One simple enhancement later, Noctis could feel the flames burning on his weapon as he prepared his final move.

Warp decoy had bought him just enough time to switch out Star of the Rogue and for him to teleport to Ignis to get the buff off him. He did a quick scan of his reserves and readied himself for the inevitable drain he would be feeling shortly. For someone who relied on magic like he did, not having any for a short period of time really, _really_ sucked.

Knowing that he didn't have too much time to spare, he zoned in on his target, "Warp Strike!"

In the blink of an eye, a series of blistering attacks broke through Aranea's guard successfully, the large Shuriken piercing through her armour with ease. The Imperial Captain was unable to predict where the attacks were coming from since they all looked intangible given the amount of spiritual energy revolving around them, making them flicker in and out of their corporeal forms, not revealing until the final moment of impact.

Star of the Rogue was the perfect one shot one kill weapon considering how you were able to do insane burst damage in a short period of time. Against Aranea, it was hard enough for them to get an opening, and so when they found it, they needed to make the most of their chance. Sure, Noctis felt completely exhausted for now, but it was nothing a good old Hi-Elixir couldn't solve. What mattered was doing enough damage to take her down for good.

The barrage went on for a few more seconds before Noctis blinked right in front of her and accomplished a point-blank warp strike with the Ultima Blade, "And stay down!"

For a moment, it seemed to have finally worked when she appeared to be stationary as she fell towards the ground. Alas, that notion was short-lived as she somehow still managed to land back on her feet with a grunt, looking slightly worse for wear with a few cracks here and there on her armour, but otherwise, she didn't seem all that hurt.

"Wooooow, you've got to be kidding me." Noctis groaned as he stared at the woman in disbelief, "What kind of armour does she have on?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the latest inventions they've come up with. Here." Ignis mused as he handed over the Hi-Elixir to the Prince.

Gulping it down with haste, he slowly flexed his limbs as he felt the healing item do its work, relishing in the feel of strength in his body again, "Any 'Plan B's?"

"At this point, I think we might need a Plan H." Gladiolus grunted as he stood next to them, "We've got more company."

"Aw crap, so she was serious about the reinforcements? I thought she was just joking!" Prompto ambled up to the rest of the crew after he did a bit of scouting around.

As the four had their little conversation about what to do next, Aranea simply stood to the side, studying them with a glint in her eyes. She had indeed underestimated them. That final combo they had at the end was quite ingenious and well thought out, which again, she didn't expect them to be able to pull off. From the reports, all they had ever done was brawl with the enemy, taking them out with their sub-par teamwork (in her eyes) and overcoming everything with brute strength. The spectacles dude was the tactician of the team, so she figured if she forced the fight away from him, then their team work would automatically fall apart.

It worked at first, but the way they retaliated was way swifter than she thought they would be capable of. She was literally defeated by a series of 'surprise' attacks, each of them impressive in their own ways. The big muscle guy actually lulled her into a sense of complacency by always announcing his attacks, then baiting her with the last war-cry. The wimpy blond managed to force her to change form mid-air with his attack, timing it perfectly so she had no choice but to dodge. The Prince had created a hologram with his magic after locking her weapon in place, before regrouping with the tactician and the rest was history.

It started with a chortle, slowly grew to chuckling before turning into full-blown laughter. Her amusement echoed through the area as the four looked at her with startled expressions.

"You guys aren't so bad, after all." Aranea declared with a smirk on her face as she removed her helmet, "I would stay around and play with you guys a bit more, but I don't like working overtime."

"P-play with us?" Prompto squeaked, "What part of that felt like playing?!"

Noctis frowned as he noted the Imperial airship that now hovered above the base, "You're leaving? Just like that?"

The Imperial Captain grinned in confirmation, "Why would I work more than I'm being paid for?" In the next instance, she had leapt up the towers in the vicinity and grasped onto the rope ladder that had dropped down for her from the airship, "Besides, you've got other people to keep you company now. Catch you boys later!"

Just like that, the airship's engines roared as it took off into the sky and out of their view. It was all very anti-climactic considering how they just had a heck of a battle. She had appeared out of nowhere and she had left just as suddenly.

"Er…" Prompto pointed towards where the airship was, "So, that happened." Turning back to the other three, he could see they all had grim looks on their faces, "Shouldn't we, I don't know, run for it?"

"And where would you run to?" A cold voice sounded as a figure slowly walked onto the scene, "Where would you hide where the Empire couldn't find you?"

With each footstep that he took, more of the young man came into view, showing off an imposing physical build dressed in a white and black frock with a purple-trimmed collar. What caught everyone's eye was the magitek prosthetic arm of his that bore the symbol of a white wolf on it, giving away the owner's identity in an instant.

Noctis' eyes narrowed as he immediately reached for his weapon, only to be stopped forcefully by Ignis, "You…!"

"Noct, calm down." The Tactician knew very well why the Prince was shaking with anger, but in an unknown situation like this, a confrontation wasn't in their best interest. If _he_ was here, that would mean an army definitely was present, "To what do we owe the pleasure, oh Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army?"

Ravus Nox Fleuret merely glanced at him, before re-focusing his attention on the agitated Prince, "I assure you it's not pleasurable at all. Chasing ants is beneath me, no matter how regal they think they are."

"Bastard!" Breaking free from Ignis' hold, Noctis was about to charge right at Ravus, only to find a sword pointed directly at his throat, centimetres away from his Adam's apple.

"I beg your pardon?" No one even had a chance to react to the sword draw. It was _that_ fast.

Raging cerulean eyes met icy blue and brown as the two Princes whose lives both changed on that fateful day stared each other down.

"You dare point my father's sword at me?!" Noctis snarled at the Commander, wanting nothing more than to be able to wring this guy's neck for being involved in his father's murder.

"It's such a pity I didn't get to do the deed myself." Ravus drawled, seemingly unaffected by the Lucis Prince, though the disdain in his eyes would say different.

In response, Noctis gritted his teeth, Armiger ready to be activated at any moment, "I dare you to say that one more time!"

"Or you'll do what?" The stare down continued, neither side willing to give in. Tension was running quite high while the other three stood to the side quite awkwardly, unable to diffuse the situation at all. Both had their parent killed because of the other's involvement in one way or another, both had someone they wanted to protect at all costs and both were to prepared to remove any obstacles in their way to reach their objective.

Prompto was the only one that was slightly confused, since he had no idea of the history behind Ravus and Noctis, but he still felt like he needed to do something. His friend was currently being threatened by this asshole, and he'd be damned if he let it continue. Noctis looked like he was gearing up to go anyway, so…

"Hey douchebag!"

Ravus gave a slight frown of annoyance as he turned towards the source of the 'noise', only to bring his blade up to deflect the bullet that was fired his way.

"Prompto, no!" Gladiolus yelled in vain as the damage was already done. Giving Noctis motivation to escalate this was the _last_ thing they needed.

Ignis grimaced as he watched his Prince give a ferocious battle cry before summoning Axe of the Conqueror. Neither of them were against fighting Ravus, in fact, the appearance of the Supreme Commander meant they would have to engage in battle regardless; however, that didn't mean the fight should be on Ravus' terms. A reckless Noctis was just as dangerous to himself as he was to the enemies. If anything were to happen to their Prince, it would be the utmost disrespect to King Regis' trust in them.

With a single warp, Noctis had blurred away from their views to arrive at the top of the tower, positioning himself to absolutely wreck the smug, arrogant blond down there. He was beyond pissed at this stage, and his vision was pretty much zoned onto Ravus. Just hearing him talk about his beloved father in that way… his hands were shaking and he could literally hear the blood pounding in his ears. For someone who had become quite apathetic, he had forgotten he could even get this mad about something.

One of his biggest regrets was not having a proper farewell with his father their last time together. He had brushed it off as nagging, wondering why his father so meticulously briefed him on the trip, stressing the importance of his role and responsibilities as Prince of Lucis, telling him that no matter what happened, he would always love him. Even though he didn't show it, he was really happy when his father had said that. Whilst not always being the most obedient kid to his father, he still loved him with all his heart, cherishing their relationship even more after the death of his mother.

All that only made the news of his father's passing away that much harder to take in. His father was _the_ King of Lucis, the man who had governed, developed and protected Insomnia from enemies all these years. The idea that his father could possibly die to anything but _old age_ was incomprehensible. He had grieved, he had cried, he had screamed his heart out, but none of that did any justice to the sheer sorrow and pain he had felt.

For this person to dare desecrate his father the way he did, to blatantly wield his father's sword in front of him, he deserved a _painful death_.

"Die, scum!"

In the next second, he had put all his force into the swing, slamming the Axe right at his target. As he expected, Ravus had raised the sword and clashed with him, but he had only had the time to use one arm, meaning there was just no way his body would be able to support the weight of the blow.

It should have been an easy contest. He had the power of gravity on his side, plus his momentum from the warp, not to mention the sheer power in the Axe of the Conqueror. Two seconds was all he needed to overpower him, then he would have the satisfaction of putting this bastard in his place.

The plan was sound, the execution was good, the result however, wasn't what he expected.

Instead of Ravus wincing in agony, his face showed no signs of exertion. The arm that was raising the sword to counter his strike held firm, not giving even an inch of space. What was supposed to have been an easily penetrable block suddenly became an immoveable wall. _He_ was the one now at the mercy of the other.

Ravus knew it, his sneer said it all. "Like I said before," flinging his arm up, the blond broke through Noctis' strike completely, forcing the Axe out of his hands, "I don't like to play with _ants_." A blow to the mid-section with the flat side of the blade sent him flying into the arms of Ignis, who barely managed to get to him in time.

Struggling to catch his breath, Noctis' eyes widened in disbelief, did this guy just ward off his attack with _one_ arm? Only then did he realize it was the 'special' arm that was wielding the sword, the arm that had replaced his original one that had supposedly been burnt off back in Insomnia.

Ravus gave a condescending glance towards the Axe of the Conqueror that had landed a few metres away after the clash, and proceeded to walk towards Noctis once more, "It is always amusing to hear barking from the weak, when they have so _little_ to back it up with."

Seeing how both Noctis and Ignis were currently incapacitated, Prompto fired off a few more shots just to try and buy some time for them, only to have all the bullets deflected back at him with one quick swing, one of them even managing to hit his pistol, the impact taking the gun right out of his hand, earning a shriek of surprise from him as he scrambled for cover.

It didn't take long for him to stand in front of them once more, sword poised to strike, "So I ask you again, or you'll do _what_?"

A loud clang echoed in the area as the blade was brought down, only to meet a shield instead of its intended target.

"Ah yes, the Amicitia, Shields of the King, how admirable." Ravus mocked as he looked at Gladiolus, who had rushed in and managed to block the slash, "However, a weak shield accomplishes _nothing_."

The tank of the team, the one who possessed immense strength, capable of landing a decisive strike on a Catoblepas, was currently struggling to hold off the sword by Ravus as the blond continued to apply pressure, increasing it bit by bit until he was forced to his knees.

"Armiger activate!"

In a flash, a multitude of weapons were flung at Ravus, forcing him to back off, thereby freeing Gladiolus, giving him some time to catch his breath as Noctis took over. The second Gladiolus got them was all it took to replenish himself with another Hi-Elixir, granting him back the mana to attempt an Armiger Chain.

Try as he might, he could not land a significant hit onto Ravus, only managing to break through his guard a couple of times, even though he was giving it his all with his entire arsenal of weapons. The Supreme Commander had suffered a few scratches, yes, but had still held him off with _one_ sword and _one_ arm. He didn't even change stance the entire time, as though it was beneath him to even put forth a slight amount of effort in this fight.

Then again, it wasn't like Ravus could get through his guard either, but that was only when Armiger was active, which meant he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

"How typical of the pampered Prince to lash out like a spoiled child in futility whilst others try to save your life!"

"Shut up! Don't talk to me as if you know anything about me!"

At that, Ravus picked that exact moment to deflect the blades and point his sword at Noctis' throat once more, timing it perfectly as the Armiger state wore off, "You are in no position to tell me to do _anything_." Blue and brown orbs narrowed as he snarled, "It is because of you that we lost our Kingdom. It is because of you that we lost our family and it is because of _you_ that my _sister_ is currently god knows where trying to help your sorry ass!"

To end the statement, Noctis got a backhand to the face as Ravus continued, "You are no _King_. You cannot possibly be what this World needs. It would be much more merciful to just end your life right now, to save Luna the sorrow when you inevitably disappoint her in the future!"

"How _dare_ you speak of Luna as though you care about her!" Noctis roared back in defiance, "You're the one who has caused so much pain throughout the years! If you're trying to act like a caring brother, it is ten years too late!"

The oppressive aura from Ravus grew stronger with each word he heard, and by the end of it, his face was devoid of emotion, as though the existence of the person before him was a complete waste of space.

"When I'm done with you, you'll wish you were never born."

Cries of dismay rang across the area as the Supreme Commander raised his sword once more, ready to cleave that insolent face into half and end his life for the sake of his sister once and for all, only to be stopped a hand gently, but firmly clasped onto his shoulder.

"Ara, ara, ara, Ravus-kun, let's all just take a deep breath, shall we? Things are getting a bit too heated, aren't they? To the point where someone forgot what the order was."

To the complete surprise of Noctis' crew, there he stood in his casual stance, with that damnable grin on his face, dressed in his impeccable attire, was Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of the Niflheim.

Credit to Ravus, he hesitated for but a second, before he sheathed his blade and turned towards the Chancellor with the appropriate bow, "My apologies for getting carried away."

"No, no, it's fine, it's all in good fun, right! I can understand how frustrated you are that you still haven't been able to locate your sister, can't imagine what she is up to now, that silly girl." Clicking his fingers as he paced around the group, he exclaimed in mock surprise, "Why, one might think she was attempting to awaken the Six to help our dear Prince over here."

Noctis stared at him incredulously as the Chancellor continued his speech, "Yes, yes, I do believe it would be in your best interest to get a ship as soon as possible. It's not easy to get to Altissia this time of the year after all."

With a flourish, said man gave them a swift bow, "Well then, I believe my message has been delivered, and it is time for us to take our leave, isn't that right, Ravus-kun?"

A stiff nod answered his question as he smirked, "Adios!"

"Wait!" Noctis yelled at him, trying to find an answer to help him sort out the turn of events in the last few minutes, "Why are you helping us by telling us this?"

Ardyn stopped in his tracks, before chuckling in that mocking tone of his, "Ah, that is a good question. But alas, where would the fun be if I just let you in all my secrets? No, no, my dear boy, I shan't give away the mystery just yet! Until next time!"

Just like that, the Chancellor was off, back to their airship, with the Supreme Commander right behind him. This meeting was supposed to be just that, revealing the location of Lunafreya to Prince Noctis, setting the perfect bait for a showdown in Altissia, allowing them to turn that place into an absolute battleground, making it easier to take over the Water City. That was what the plan was supposed to have been, but Ravus couldn't help but believe that there was more to it than that.

He had let his emotions get the best of him that time, but there would be no more of that. He was desperately running out of time and there was still so much to do. He would never approve of his sister's choice, nor would he believe in her choice of King, but if there was one thing he could never forget…

 _A brother always protects his sister. Always!_

No matter what happened, no matter what he was to become, no matter how much he would lose, this was the one thing he would never let go!

 _I love you, Nii-sama. I've always loved you. Never forget that._

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Had a bit of trouble with this scene, because the original made no sense to me whatsoever. The reactions from all parties (apart from Ardyn) felt completely off. I had to re-imagine the scene using my own interpretations plus the backstory I've set up, so I had quite some difficulty. Hopefully it turned out alright.**_


	9. Chapter 8: So I heard you like water?

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 8: So I heard you like water?**

It was a peaceful morning, with the sun blazing away in the cloudless sky. Birds were chirping, fish were swimming, monsters were roaming, you know, just the usual. The three Glaives were currently still fast asleep given the chaos that went on the night before (i.e. the snots to the face and the subsequent pandemonium). Alas, the serenity was soon to be denied as their 'beloved' Leader slammed the door wide open, "Rise and shine, boys and girl!"

In that instant, three shuriken, an explosive tag and hook was flung at him. With absolute ease, he batted them all away, and smirked, "Nice reactions, but that doesn't excuse your laziness! Now get up! We've got visitors coming today!"

"Urgggh…" Crowe groaned as she got up, trying to blink the weariness out of her eyes. The physical training in the water was bad enough as it was, and she had to learn how to control her 'magic' blasts which was all mental strength, so if anything, she was doubly as tired as the other two.

Nyx showed a slight discomfort as he got up, stretching his body out to try and get rid of the fatigue. Libertus followed shortly after, giving a wide yawn since he got the least amount of sleep. After Crowe had pummelled the crap out of him, it took him a while to get over the trauma of the whole thing (it was very hard, but for the sake of his 'sister', he would endure) before he finally succumbed to the lures of slumber.

"Geez, you guys are hardly presentable company, go wash up and all that."

Three pairs of glares went his way as he nonchalantly left them, hopefully to prepare breakfast or something. In their time with the Glaives, they had their tough times, they had their strict orders and they had abided by them easily. They've just never been _this_ tired. They had been the perfect examples of disciplined soldiers, always on time, always getting the job done. It only took Naruto a couple of weeks to make them like this. The shame…

"Wait a minute." Crowe squinted at her other two companions, "What did he mean we've got 'guests'? Aren't we supposed to be, I don't know, a secretive group and stuff?"

Nyx and Libertus stared back, before shrugging in unison, "No idea."

Rolling her eyes, the brunette turned and walked out of the room, "Grr…"

Not wanting to draw her ire, Libertus breathed a sigh of relief as flashes of his 'torture' last night came back to him, "They just grow up so fast."

Nyx deadpanned as he handed his friend a towel, "You do know that she'll probably kill you if she heard you say that."

Taking the towel with thanks, Libertus quickly gave a wipe over his face (just to make sure there wasn't any more snot left) before replying, "That's why I whispered that."

"Sis-con."

"Psh, you're just jealous I've got such a big, caring heart."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Are you alright, Noctis?" A worried Iris asked as she sat between her brother and the Prince on their drive to Cape Caem.

The group had been silent, pensive and just a bit tense throughout their trip. They had all tried to act like nothing had happened when they came back to Lestallum this morning, but it was clear as day to even an outsider that something important had transpired. er brother tried his best to keep her entertained but the atmosphere just felt extremely solemn. Ignis was just his cool self as always, showing no visible emotion as he manned the wheel and Noctis was his usual apathetic and quiet self. Even Prompto appeared slightly more subdued than what she had expected, though he did still chatter quite a bit.

She had tried her best to make conversation with the group, wanting to help lighten the mood, doing what little she can to take their minds of their worries but so far it hadn't worked as well as she had hoped. They had all responded to her banter accordingly but it just lacked the usual fervour she was expecting. Something had definitely happened to put this group in such low spirits. She knew it wasn't her place to ask about it, but seeing the determined glint in Noctis' eyes as well as the way he would subtly clench his fists every now and then, she couldn't help but be worried for him.

"Hm? Ah, yes, I'm fine." Said Prince gave her a small smile as he ruffled her hair like he used to when they were young, "Don't worry about it."

Surprisingly, her brother didn't say anything about his action. Normally, he would go all over-protective and yell at Noctis for daring to lay a hand on his precious sister (pft, brothers).

Reactively tucking her head in, she felt helpless and vulnerable in this situation. She was young and weak, unable to be of any help to them. She knew they had a long road ahead of them and given recent events, she herself had already seen what horrors they must face. It was so painful watching people you care about suffer, yet being unable to do anything about it. So now, all she could do, was just smile and pretend, just like they were, that nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Mo! You're messing up my hair!"

"You're in for it now, Noct! You should know better than to screw up a lady's hairstyle!"

"Pft, it wasn't intentional, idiot! Go take pictures of the scenery or something. Shoo."

"Ah! That's so mean! Ignis! Noctis is bullying me!"

"You're overreacting, Prompto. I'm sure Noctis has nothing but love for you."

"That's a blatant lie and you know it!"

"Ha! Is little Prompto shy his crush on the Prince is finally being requited?"

"H-Huh?"

"What she said."

"Gladio! You too?!"

"Look, there's some grass over there. Why don't you take a picture?"

"Gaaaah! Everyone's so mean all of a sudden!"

With that, everyone present laughed. It might not be genuine, it might be a bit forced, and it might be temporary, but Iris was determined to bring some joy back to them. It was the least she could do after all they've done for her.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Keh, still alive and kicking eh?" The grizzled old man eyed the bubbly blond with exasperation as he ambled up the slope.

"You could have acted more surprised." Naruto joked as he quickly went over to Cid to help him with his luggage.

"Too old for that shit."

"Just give me a hug already you big teddy bear."

The Glaives were treated to a heart-warming sight of their Leader embracing his grandfather figure during his time back when he was situated back in Insomnia. They go way back with their history and even after Cid and Regis had their fight, Naruto had always maintained contact with the engineer.

"How's Cindy?"

"She's fine, all set and ready to take over the business. That's why I'm okay with making the trip all the way over here."

"Heh, she has always been a tough little lady."

"You're lucky she didn't realize it was you. Otherwise she would have come over just to slap you a good one."

"Why I never! What have I done?"

"Pretending to be dead wasn't enough?"

"Er… Erhem, I mean apart from that."

"You know, she never believed you were dead. Vehemently denied it and declared that she would kick your ass when you showed up eventually."

"Aw, I love her too."

"Brat."

Naruto had sent a request to Cid with a coded request that was only decipherable by the old man himself. It was delivered by a clone henge-d to look like some random stranger, so Cindy wouldn't pick up on it. It was a code Naruto and Cid created out of boredom quite a while back, so it wasn't like it was a professional military digital code or anything, making it look like a normal request for a car engine to others.

"That was cheeky of you to send that."

"Heh heh, I knew you would figure it out. Now come clean, how long did it take you to work out it was me?"

"Keh! I knew it straight away!" The old man huffed as he replied in a smug manner, "It'll be many more years before you can pull a trick in front of me."

"Sure, sure."

After some more banter, teasing and joking around, they all settled down back in the lounge.

"Alright boys and girl, meet Cid, the legendary tinkerer of all things. You give him a piece of crap from the junkyard, he can turn it into something amazing, like a watch or whatever. The point is, he's the best there is at what he does."

Nyx, Crowe and Libertus gave a polite nod. They had all given brief introductions of who they were already, and they have long since heard about the tales of the great Cid Sophiar, so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear the praise their Leader was heaping onto him.

"Cut the crap and get to the point."

Naruto grinned as he knew how the old man always got irate when he exaggerated his feats to other people, "Anyways, the point is. You guys set sail today."

Three pairs of owl blinks came back his way, "What?"

"Good old Cid here brought in the gear I ordered for you guys ages ago, so Nyx and Crowe, you're all set! Happy swimming!"

Funnily enough, it was Libertus who put up his hand next.

"Yes, Lib?"

"What about me?"

"You, my friend, will be helping Cid fix up a boat. Once it's done, you shall accompany him back to Hammerhead Garage to act as a bodyguard of sorts."

Again silence ensued. To be fair, the announcement was rather sudden, so one couldn't blame the three for not knowing how to respond.

"By the way, you have one day to get to Altissia."

That did it. Nyx had already closed his eyes and seemed resigned to his fate. Crowe wasn't having any of that. She immediately grabbed the closest object she could find (which just happened to be ibertus' mug, to the poor man's dismay) and flung it towards the blond, wanting to clobber him something bad.

"You, you, you absolutely _insufferable_ arse!"

Not only did he drop the bombshell that they were going to be leaving for Altissia by way of swimming _today_ out of nowhere, he also just casually expected them to get there in _one day._ They weren't even sure if they would survive the damn swim and now they had to do it within a time limit?! What was this bullshit?!

Cid simply sat where he was, sipping on the tea that had been prepared for him by a clone, ignoring the failed attempts at brutal murder by a beautiful young lady that he had just met a few minutes ago and the completely childish behaviour from the brat that he had come to treat as his family. It was good to see that he was still alive, but he supposed it was just too much to ask for him to change his childish personality even slightly.

After all, it was that infectious smile of his and those 'juvenile antics' that helped get Cindy out of the funk when her parents passed away. He was partly responsible for the growth of a little girl who was absolutely lost and miserable into the cheerful, bubbly woman she was today. Naruto had taught her much, shared his life stories with her just to prove to her that he could relate to her, thereby earning her trust. Naruto had understood the pain of children who had to grow up way too soon, and hence did everything he could to ensure Cindy knew he was there to help.

A smirk came to Cid's face even as he remembered the day Cindy was told that her Naru-chan had passed away. She had declared with the utmost confidence that there was no way that was true and that he was merely playing a prank on them all. Naturally, Cid didn't believe the news one bit either, so both Grandfather and granddaughter went about their lives as per norm – confident and strong. It only meant that they would keep all their 'anger' at the 'idiotic blond' bottled up so that when they next saw him, they would 'express' their displeasure.

Then again, it just didn't have quite the same effect when the person in question didn't actually mind you 'expressing' the displeasure. He would just take it with a smile on the face and that kinda defied the point of even bothering to in the first place. Besides, if he really wanted to dodge, it would be like what was happening now, where the poor girl couldn't even land a single hit on him, no matter what she threw. From the looks of it, she was about to throw an entire bed at him before she was stopped hurriedly by her two comrades.

"Oh yeah, I'll need you to have a look at the ship and see what materials we're missing, if any. I've " In the midst of the 'fighting', Naruto managed to direct the comment at Cid that was actually relevant to his presence.

"I guess I might as well do it while you guys kill each other."

"Or die trying."

"Or that." Cid chuckled as he got up slowly, and made his way towards the port, ignoring the frantic yells coming from within the cabin, "Nice day today."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"You alright up there?" A disgruntled Kurama grumbled as he continued their journey across the sea.

If anyone had caught sight of them, they would be absolutely floored by what they saw. Right in the middle of the ocean, was a gigantic crimson fox slowly walking _on_ the surface of the water with a blonde lady dressed in white idly sitting on its head, her hand caressing its ears as they traversed the 'terrain'.

"Oh Kurama-san, you worry too much, I'm perfectly fine." Lunafreya couldn't help but chuckle as the fox asked her the same question he had five minutes ago, pretty much since they've started making their way towards Altissia on water.

"I don't know, you might be sea-sick."

"Even if I was prone to that, you're walking so carefully that I barely feel any movement at all." It was true, Kurama was taking extra care to ensure the entire ride was comfy, safe and enjoyable.

"Pft, yeah well, it's hard to walk on water." Yes, foxes can blatantly lie through their teeth with no repercussions whatsoever. Oh yes, it wasn't like he was a trickster or anything.

"I love you, you big softie."

To be fair, Kurama really, _really_ didn't like water. It was why he was always pretty damn annoyed when he was locked in a sewer of all places when he was first stuck in a Jinchuuriki's seal. For someone who had always had free reign of the world, to be confined within a tight space with a representation of stale water wasn't exactly the nicest place. For years and years, within Mito, Kushina and throughout Naruto's childhood, he was forced to stay in that place. Things eventually worked out but that sort of experience stuck to you and wasn't something you would just forget. You move on from it (since he was such a forgiving being), but subconsciously, icky stuff were still icky.

One would think a fox the size of the Titan would send alarm signals running through Niflheim at the earliest notice, and it would, provided people could actually see him. With his power, creating an illusion cloak that shrouds over him was a piece of cake. If any Imperial airships were spying on the ocean, they wouldn't be able to see anything different to your everyday sea waves.

When Naruto and himself first arrived in Eos, and their control was completely out of whack, it would have probably been a lot harder to walk on water, considering they still weren't used to how the energies or magic or whatever worked around this place. Come to think of it, it would have been a rather hilarious experience for both of them, what with them stumbling and drowning all over the place.

Needless to say, Lunafreya was pleasantly surprised when a snort was heard. The slight shaking of his head tickled her and she asked curiously, "What's so funny?"

"Heh, just imagining Naruto using his crappy control to water-walk when we first got to Eos." Needless to say, he would never mention himself in a similarly awkward situation. Bijuu pride demanded he never be embarrassed, especially not by adorable girls like Luna. At least, that was what he kept telling himself.

"Ah! So you do miss him!" That was not the response he expected.

"Wait, what?" Kurama's eyes narrowed, "I do not!"

"Aww, you guys have such a great bond!"

"H-Huh? How did you go from me laughing at his sorry ass to this conclusion?"

"It's okay, Kurama-san, I'm sure we'll see him soon."

"Th-this, I don't _miss_ him! It's all for your sake!"

"I'm sure he misses you too Kurama-san."

"Gaaa-haaa-urgh…" It's super-effective, especially because Naruto, unlike tsundere Kyuubi, would have no qualms declaring to the world that yes, he did miss his best buddy Kurama. He wouldn't even be joking if he said their friendship stood the test of space and time.

Kurama was about to respond before Lunafreya gave a wistful sigh, "I hope Noctis-sama is well too."

That would have been the perfect timing for the fox to get some teasing and revenge in but judging from her tone, he decided to let her off this time, well, partially anyway, "Heh, he better be, or I'll eat him."

"Kurama-san!"

"Pft, he should be grateful I'm even considering it. I bet you he tastes like crap."

Naruto would have yelled straight back, _Are you trying to tell me you know what crap tastes like? You've eaten it before, haven't you?! You must have!_

Lunafreya, on the other hand, simply pouted and whacked him lightly on the head, "Oh you!"

Just like usual, the banter continued. It wasn't like there was really that much else to do when you're strolling across the sea.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"So, what are we missing?" Naruto asked cheerfully as he stood by Cid. Nyx and Crowe were finishing up their final preparations before heading out into the sea for their 'trip'. It was vital that they try out the underwater suits Cid had crafted for them. The request was a special one because it required the suits to generate a steady supply of oxygen whilst they were underwater the entire way. Needless to say, GPS and all other related technology had to be water-proof (wouldn't do to be electrocuted under the sea and having a crab sing songs about you) and it had to somehow mediate the under-water pressure to negate any discomfort the person might feel.

Either way, it was a tedious task but Cid had come through for him once again with two marvellous suits and currently, Nyx and Crowe were testing it out. Even if something did go wrong, Naruto had placed two Hiraishin beacon markers on their arms, so that in the event of an emergency, they could teleport back to Cape Caem safe and sound.

"Hm…" The elderly engineer scratched his chin contemplatively as he ran through his list quickly, "A few bits and pieces would do well in fortifying this thing, nothing crazy. There is one problem with the engine though."

"Oh? What's wrong with it?"

"Could have been damaged from its last excursion, or could have been just deterioration over time, but we're gonna need a new one."

"Really? That bad?"

"Yeah."

"Just write me down the model, I'll steal one for ya."

Rolling his eyes, Cid whacked him on the arm, "No stealing. Honestly, you and your ways of thievery."

"Fine, _buy_ one for you."

"Much better, the only problem being that I don't think they even sell for an engine model this old anymore. I'm going to have to make one."

"… Are you serious?" The deadpan was strong with this one.

"I don't remember ever joking with you."

"That's because you're pretty much senile."

"You would know all about it, wouldn't you?"

"Uh huh, so how long will this take then? I don't think the Emperor of Niflheim is willing to wait much longer. Luna will most definitely be at Altissia in the next couple of days."

Running a hand through his hair, the elderly engineer did a quick mental calculation, "You're lucky I have most of the stuff I need with me, though I would probably need a few tools back at Hammerhead now that I think about it. The main problem would be finding a nice, big chunk of mythril."

"Mythril? What, regular metals won't work?"

"If you want it to break down in a day again, then sure."

"What? Why would it break down so easily? We haven't used this boat in ten years… oh."

"Yes, now go find me that mythril."

"Hell no, that stuff is heavily regulated by Niflheim."

"Just waltz in and steal some."

"Erm, excuse me. Who was the one who discriminated against me for thievery?"

"You're going to Hell anyway, one more sin won't hurt you."

"That's harsh! That's really harsh, old man!"

"Stop yer whining and get outta here. I've got a job to do, you're distracting me."

Just like that, the blond was unceremoniously kicked out of the workshop. The old man was never one for soft persuasion. Drumming his fingers on his chin, Naruto frowned as he pondered on the probabilities of sneaking a clone into the territory to steal it. It was possible, but not really ideal, considering he didn't want Ardyn to know that he was helping Noctis and co. directly. The Chancellor would instantly know it was him if word got out that some mythril was missing. No one else that wasn't Noctis would bother with 'stealing' from the Empire. To be fair, no one else could clone themselves, turn that clone into a different person and have the skills required to perform the theft.

It really shouldn't matter this much considering how they were going to clash eventually, and Ardyn most definitely knew he wasn't dead; but even still, an element of surprise was still something to be used to your advantage if you had it.

Shrugging, he pulled out his phone and dialled to his 'friendly' informant on the Imperial Army side, "Hey, how's it going –"

" _I beat them! Ha!"_

"… Beat who?"

" _Your precious protégés! I wasted them easily, one on four. They got nothing on me!"_

"O…k? Good for you?"

" _Of course! You owe me one now."_

"I… wait, what?"

" _You lost the bet! You said they would beat me! Ha! As if they could."_

"I did?"

" _Yeah! Wait, you're not trying to back out of it, are you?"_

"Well, no, I would never –"

" _Damn straight you wouldn't. Don't worry, I won't cash it in yet, I'll give it a good, long think first."_

Rolling his eyes, Naruto could just imagine her gloating face as she said that, "Ok, that's good and all, but I need another favour from you."

 _"Another one? Didn't I just give you those suits?"_

"Yes, and I'm eternally grateful for them. Now, any chance you could get me some mythril?"

" _Sure I can. I just need to break fifty Imperial Military rules, kill twenty soldiers on duty and bribe the Chancellor fifty million gil to get him to pretend he didn't know about all this."_

"That bad, huh?"

" _No shit, Sherlock. But I do have some good news for you."_

"Oh?"

" _I've been tasked by the high and almighty Chancellor himself to accompany the great Lucis Prince himself into the depths of Steyliff Grove to retrieve mythril when he arrives there."_

"… Wait, why would he give you such an order? Noctis doesn't even know he needs mythril yet."

" _No clue. He was very confident when he gave his order, and I didn't bother checking. Though now that you've brought it up too, it's piqued my interest. What's the mythril for anyway?"_

"Huh, so he knows of the boat, knows that Noctis will come to Cape Caem, and somehow knows that the boat needs mythril."

" _What boat?"_

"It's an old Royal beauty, though it hasn't been used in ages, so we're getting someone to fix it up to get the four of them to Altissia."

" _Ooooh, right, of course. That reminds me, I need to get someone to swap their shift with me so I can actually get to see all the fun that's gonna happen in Altissia."_

"Well, at least I guarantee you'll be able to witness a Tsunami first-hand."

" _Heh, we'll see. But yeah, don't worry about the mythril, just tell the Prince to come to Vesperpool and I'll sort him out."_

"Alright, thanks again."

With that, the line went off on the opposite end. Staring at his cellphone, Naruto sighed as he tried to process this new line of info he just received. It always puzzled him why the Chancellor waited so long to carry out his plans. He supported Niflheim and somehow convinced their previously benevolent Emperor to begin his conquer of the world. Why waste so much time and effort when he had so much power at his disposal already? If it was grudge against the Lucis Family, then why not simply brute force his way through Insomnia and just kill Noctis when he was a child? Surely he had the power to do that. Even now, he let Noctis and his friends roam the world freely, occasionally sending Imperial magitek infantries after them but it felt more like an act of formality.

At the Disc of Cauthess, he should have left them there to perish, but he actually escorted them out. What was his motive? He knew the man had a love for flair and grandeur, but what was the point of appearing to be Noctis' 'ally'? To 'betray' him at the final second? For what?

Naruto would never understand ultra-evil mastermind antagonists. If you wanted to kill somebody, just do it, why drag it out? To create openings for others to somehow defeat you in the end? It was nice of them to do so, but it just felt weird and lame.

Shrugging, Naruto poked his head inside the workshop again and yelled, "Oi old fart! Noctis and co. are probably going to be here in the next couple of days. When they get here, tell them to go sort out the mythril. They'll know where to go and all that."

"Getting someone else to do your work for you again?"

"It's called using resources effectively!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Rolling his eyes at Cid's dismissive attitude, Naruto left to check on his group. Cid was always like this when he was working.

So Ardyn planned for Noctis to go to Altissia, where he knew for sure Luna would be to awaken Leviathan. Was this the Chancellor's bait to try and draw him out? If that was the case, that could mean that Ardyn had either gathered enough power to the point where he believed he could take Naruto head on, or he had a way to limit the blond's power. Slightly worrying, but at the end of the day, Naruto was quite confident in his abilities. If worse comes to worst, then he would still be able to regroup with Kurama, and he highly doubted there was any enemy that he couldn't take on with his buddy by his side.

Not to mention they would also have the Oracle's awesome healing powers, if for some reason they couldn't heal themselves using chakra, so they have that sorted. Depending on the way things played out, he might need to set up a barrier to contain the damage. Maybe Ardyn wanted him to exhaust himself trying to protect the citizens of Altissia?

So many questions, so little answers.

 _Ah well, let's just get Nyx and Crowe going first. Luna and Kurama have probably reached Altissia by now. I'll just improvise on the fly. If his target is me, then it makes things easier. If his target is Luna, he'll be in for a bit of a surprise. If his target is Noctis, then all goes according to plan._

 _Win-win dattebayo!_

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Slightly shorter chapter compared to the other ones, just bridging the main story. The reason why I haven't added more 'sidequests' for Noctis and co. is because it makes no sense in terms of the 'story'. Like you're being chased by Niflheim, why would you go around taking hunts instead of figuring out a way to convene with the Oracle? In-game, that's fine, but when you're writing it out, it feels a bit awkward. Noctis would totally fish for 5 days just to up his fishing level to 10 whilst Ardyn and Lunafreya patiently waits in Altissia.**_

 _ **Though if there certain sidequests you believe would be really interesting to see, feel free to suggest it =D**_

 _ **Cheers guys.**_


	10. Chapter 9: Remember Me?

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 9: Remember Me?**

The capital of Accordo, City of the Seas – Altissia.

Famed for its many waterfalls and canals, floating markets accessible only by gondolas and complex maze-like streets filled with attractions that appeal to all age groups, this city was one of the finest Eos had to offer.

Such was the place that the Oracle and her 'pet' had set foot upon after their journey across the sea.

"Gotta give it to that old lady, this place looks as impeccable as it was all those years ago." Kurama grunted from Lunafreya's shoulder, having now shrunk back to an 'acceptable' form so as to not scare the crap out of the normal citizens.

"Mo Kurama-san, please don't antagonize her when we meet up with her later on. We'll need every bit of help we can get." Chiding him half-heartedly, the Princess quickly ran through the possible scenarios in her head, mentally preparing herself before going to pay a visit to the First Secretary of Accordo.

"Keh, it's not like she _won't_ help you. She just likes to be all stuck-up about it." Not letting up with his 'disdain', Kurama kept a close watch on their surroundings. So far, he had yet to sense any Imperial forces around them, but it was only going to be a matter of time before they appeared. Far be it for Niflheim to let yet another Astral form a pact with the Lucis Prince after what they've witnessed at the Disc of Cauthess.

The Empire knew that Altissia was never really a part of them even though they were technically under their rule. The fact that Accordo had its own government spoke volumes of the situation. Now that Insomnia had fallen, surely even the dumbest of people would know that they were now the next target. Of course, Niflheim couldn't blatantly 'invade' Altissia, since you know, the City already 'belonged' to them.

However, knowing that the Oracle was at Altissia to summon Levianthan gave them ample opportunity to turn this into a complete war-fest. Destroying a city or two in the name of 'protecting' their citizens and ridding the world of a 'terror' in the Sea serpent was way too easy an excuse for them. That old lady would know this, and she would be prepared to negotiate. She didn't like the Empire any more than they did.

Even so, politicians would always be politicians. Subtle hints, hidden agendas, blatant lies were all to be expected when it came to such negotiations. Throughout his life, Kurama had heard his fair share of bullshit during these 'important talks'. Once Naruto became Hokage, the blond's workload increased phenomenally, even with the use of Kage Bunshin. Naruto had to learn to become diplomatic in certain matters and yet still retain his ideals. He would constantly bounce ideas off of Kurama and the two would often hold long conversations whenever possible. Sometimes, Hinata would pop in as well and give her input, considering her expertise with the whole Clan business.

The fox had met the First Secretary of Accordo a few years ago with Naruto and never really liked the way she could speak for hours and hours and you would never understand what her motive was. The skill level with talking in circles was off the charts.

"Lady Claustra is very kind and humble. Such prejudice against her is unwarranted." Lunafreya gave him a light pat on the head, before moving towards the nearest gondola station, " _Please_ be nice to her?"

Kurama rolled his eyes (a bad habit he picked up from Naruto), "You make it sound like I was going to make a huge fuss and insult her to her face."

"Yes, please don't do that."

"I'm glad that you have so much faith in me, Luna. I might start crying any moment now."

"Save them for when Naruto-san appears."

"Hell no! As if I would shed tears just for – "

"Shhhhh! You promised me you won't make a fuss. People are staring!"

"You started th – mfpmmmfff…"

The citizens of Altissia were treated to a strange sight of a young blond lady dressed in white (who by the way, held an amazing resemblance to the Oracle), smiling awkwardly with one hand cupped around her pet's mouth, with the little thing thrashing wildly in protest. This continued until she got onto a gondola, returned the very enthusiastic greeting from the gondola driver politely, and pretended not to notice how the pet was now trying to bite her.

Those pedestrians would stare at each other, shrug and put it off. They've seen weirder things in their time. It's Altissia after all.

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Carrots?" Noctis asked dubiously as he stared at the tiny farm he was led to.

"Yeah!" Iris answered cheerfully, ignoring the owlish looks she was getting.

"Erm, that's… that's great."

"Hm!"

"Alright, let's get to work then, since we've got so many to plant." Gladiolus, ever the sis-con that he was, couldn't bear for his sister to find out how much the others didn't care for this lovely 'farm' of hers. Like, come on, they had much better things to do than grow vegetables. They didn't like eating the damn things unless Ignis was practically threatening them with poison.

"Haha! Onii-chan, always in such a rush. It won't even take that long, you can only grow five at one time anyway."

"…" Sounds of a crow cawing could be heard across the sky.

"W-what do you mean we can only grow five?" Prompto asked incredulously as he pointed at the piece of land they had, "What are you going to use the rest of the space for?"

"Well, the thing is, farming is a lot of work after all. A lady like me can only tend to so many things at once, teehee." Iris answered coyly.

Even Gladiolus was struggling at this point, "O-of course, t-that's my sister for you!"

Ignis obligingly gave him an elbow to the chest in response.

"Besides, we've got this gentleman over here who has offered to buy our carrots once they grow! Isn't that amazing?"

The four turned to stare at the man dressed immaculately in his suit, smiling at them creepily as he stood to the side of the 'farm', "Greetings."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute." Prompto pointed at the guy in disbelief, "You weren't there a second ago! Where the hell did you come from?!"

"Ah yes, where are my manners. My name is Claude, and I own a restaurant around here with a menu that needs nothing but these carrots you'll be growing in this lovely farm of yours. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Silence reigned for a few seconds, since everyone was caught between the need to point out the amount of bullshit in that statement and the need to retain Iris' innocence.

"So you're telling us, that your restaurant cooks nothing _but_ carrots?"

"That is correct, yes."

Noctis did a perfect facepalm, before dragging his palm down his face in an exasperated manner, "Ok. Alright. Just… leave your address to us and we'll send these… carrots through once we harvest them."

"Oh no, if it's quite alright with you, I'll just stand here and wait for them." His megawatt smile did nothing to ease the crew.

"You'll just… stand here… and wait?" Ignis asked disbelievingly, "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely! Such gifts from the divine must be treated with the utmost respect!"

With their jaws all effectively resting on the floor now, they turned to Iris for an explanation. Said girl had been cheerfully nodding along all the time, as though everything the man had said was completely viable, "Caem carrots harvest real fast, so it's fine. It'll make selling them much easier for me, whew."

Looking between the optimistic girl and the shady restaurant owner, Noctis decided he needed to ask for the sake of Gladiolus' sis-con sanity, "So erm, how much are you paying for these carrots?"

"Why, that is up to you of course! I'm happy to pay gil for it, or if you prefer, you could choose to exchange carrots for something else."

"Something else?"

"Yes, monsieur, you can pick between a berry, a lovely decal for your ride, or weapons."

"… Did you just say weapons?"

"I believe I did. These are the latest models you can find on the market too, you won't get them anywhere else!"

"How the heck does a restaurant owner _own_ those weapons in the first place?!"

"I have many connections, monsieur, of which I put to good use." Claude declared proudly, "As you can see, I'm _very_ sincere with my offer."

"Don't worry mister, I'll make sure the Caem carrots you get are of the best quality you could ever find!"

"I'll hold you to that miss, hohohoho!"

"Hahahaha!"

Watching the two of them laugh merrily and almost in sync, Noctis could swear he could hear eerie music playing in the background.

"Yeah erm, we've got some mythril we gotta go find so er… Iris… I'll leave the carrots… to you…"

"You got it!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Sniff, sniff."

"What's wrong, Kurama-san?"

"Just a phantom smell of carrots."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"So, Onii-chan, could you help me with the first batch? It's _really_ important!" Iris asked innocently as she gave her brother the most effective puppy eyes she could muster.

Taken aback by the request, Gladiolus blinked before asking curiously, "Erm, I would love to but we've got more important matters to deal with at the moment, so I'm – "

"But it's _**really**_ important."

That stopped him once again. There was just something about the way she was making the request. Iris had long gone past the stage of throwing stubborn tantrums. She had grown into one of the most considerate and sweet girls ever to exist on the face of Eos (in his humble opinion). Throughout the trip to Cape Caem, she had tried to cheer them all up in her own ways, so it made no sense for her to ask this of him at a time like this. She knew where they were trying to go and what they needed in order to get there. So why was she asking him, _just him_ , to stay behind?

"Iris, this is serious."

"Hmph, I'm being _very serious_ here onii-chan. There will be extreme _consequences_ if you don't stay behind to help me!"

"Now see here!" Gladiolus grimaced, not really sure how to handle Iris when she was in this mode. Surely she understood how important it was for them to get that mythril? It made no sense why she was pushing this much for him to stay.

He was about to launch into another argument when Noctis spoke up, "It's fine, Gladio. The three of us should be enough for the trip. We don't want a repeat of Jared."

A heavy silence permeated the area as memories of that particular event came to their minds. The Amicitia gave a heavy sigh, before nodding to the request, "Alright, I'll stay. Ignis, Prompto, I'll leave him to you. Make sure the knucklehead doesn't just charge head-first into all sorts of trouble."

"Easier said than done," Ignis replied dryly as he made his way towards the Regalia, "but I'll try not to disappoint."

"Yessir!" Chirped Prompto as he ushered his best friend to their ride, "Saa saa our almighty Prince, the Regalia awaits!"

Noctis rolled his eyes as he gave the photographer a whack eliciting a satisfying 'ouch' from him, before bidding Iris goodbye and leaving for the car.

It was all very anti-climactic as the Amicitia watched them set off towards Vesperpool in the Regalia. He wasn't too worried about them considering they could all take care of themselves. That Chancellor, Ardyn Izunia, had let them off the hook time and time again, so he had a feeling that it wouldn't take too much for them to get that mythril. It honestly wouldn't surprise him at all if the Chancellor were to somehow show up in Vesperpool before them, basically waiting for them to appear at his doorstep.

"Alright, you've got me all to yourself now Iris, shall we get started?" Gladiolus took in a deep breath, willing himself to move his focus onto his sister.

"Teehee, Onii-chan is the best!" Iris could easily tell how reluctant her brother was at letting his friends venture into unknown territory by themselves but the fact that he agreed to remain spoke volumes of his love for her. She did feel slightly guilty using that love like this, but because it was for her brother's own good, it was probably for the best.

"Heh, still bratty as ever, aren't you?" Gladiolus ruffled her hair playfully as they made their way back towards the farm.

"You know it!"

In any case, it gave him a chance to see if Imperial soldiers were actively on their tracks. They've had occasional encounters with platoons but nothing solidly planned so far. Perhaps some scouting was in order once he finished this gardening business…

"Speaking of which, how do you even know that restaurant owner?" Come to think of it, they've all been so caught up in the whole act of planting carrots of all things that they didn't even ask this question. It was shocking to see the person just appear out of nowhere, but as Gladiolus thought more about it, it was extremely suspicious how Iris of all people knew this person and how he seemed to know _exactly_ where they were. This place was supposed to be somewhat of a secret base after all. In fact, he didn't remember actually telling Iris the exact location of this place until they've arrived at this place, so how could she have contacted the restaurant owner at such short notice?

Was this why Iris wanted him to stay behind? To protect her from this possible malice that had her under control using some sort of spell? Did Noctis see through this as well and hence agreed to him staying? If that was the case, then he needed to alert the others, make sure old man Cid's alright as well, keep collateral damage to a minimum and –

"Onii-chan, you're hyperventilating."

"Huh? No, I'm not. I'm just thinking about –"

"Well, you're thinking _way_ too hard," Iris teased as she guided him towards the 'farm', "Besides, what do you mean how do I know that restaurant owner? We've both known him for ages!"

The almost indignant tone she used surprised Gladiolus, "Huh? I've never met that person before in my life! I'm absolutely positive!"

Rolling her eyes, Iris chided her brother, "Just because he doesn't look the same anymore doesn't mean you don't know _him_."

"Okay, I'm getting really confused with all this." Rubbing his forehead tiredly, he made a listless gesture with his hand, "Can you just tell me who it is?"

"Sure, but you gotta help me with the carrots first. We really _do_ need them, so let's get that out of the way, then if you still can't remember, being the silly person that you are, then we'll do a big reveal."

Struggling not to deadpan at the phrase 'big reveal', Gladiolus sighed as they reached the clearing, fully expecting that shady character to be waiting for them with that weird smile of his, only to find that it was devoid of any presences.

"Wait, where did he go?"

"Oh, he said he had an urgent meeting to attend, and he'll be back in a few hours, give or take."

Gladiolus couldn't help but stare at his sister, questions pounding through his brain as he continued to process the situation, "How… just how do you know this?"

Iris, in turn, stared at him as though he was the 'special' one, "Erm, he told me? Are you sure you're okay, Onii-chan?"

"But, but we were together the whole time – "

"Looks like I was right in holding you back, you really need a break. Come on, let's grow some carrots together!"

"But – "

"No more buts!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

In the Embassy of Altissia, our Oracle had finally met up with the First Secretary of Accordo.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Claustra." Ever the polite woman that she was, Lunafreya gave a formal bow as she greeted the woman with the strongest political power in that continent.

"Quite." Dressed in a stylish turquoise with an embossed pattern featuring a gold pin on the left lapel, the First Secretary cut an imposing figure. Her blue eyes were fixed on the Princess, as though calculating her worth. She mentally applauded the Oracle for mustering the courage to arrange this meeting, evading the Empire and somehow managing to cross the seas without anyone realizing to seek asylum under her care; that was indeed an impressive feat.

With a wave of her hand, she motioned for the Princess to take a seat, and commenced the 'negotiations', "So my dear, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"First of all, I sincerely thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Lady Claustra. I appreciate how busy your daily duties are," Lunafreya gave a light bow this time, before continuing, "Yet, the matter I bring to your attention today is of the utmost importance."

"Oh?" Placing her hand under her chin, she gestured, "Do tell."

Taking in a deep breath, the Oracle looked the First Secretary right in the eye and declared, "I need to summon the Hydraen."

Not even batting an eye at the direct request, she drawled, "Is that so?"

"The King of Lucis is currently on his way to Altissia as we speak." Lunafreya held her gaze, unrelenting and determined, "He is the key to saving this world, and in order to do that, he needs the help of the Six in order to stand toe to toe against Niflheim."

Standing from her seat, she pushed on with her reasoning, "I do not deem to consider myself more familiar with the current situation of Altissia more than you, Lady Claustra, but it is evident what the Empire's intentions are. They have set forth forces at work that would one day threaten to swallow the entire world in darkness."

Tilting her head, the First Secretary replied in an even tone, "And you're going to tell me that the new King of Lucis is the saviour of the world?"

"Yes."

Silence permeated the room for almost a minute as Camelia Claustra gazed at the young woman in front of her. Not once did she show a hint of doubt, a sliver of uncertainty or any signs of hesitation. A quiet stare was sometimes the most efficient tool in weeding out the liars, the faint-hearted and the suck-ups. Noise had been a tool used for distraction since the beginning of time; words were the key to promising empty nothings to reach your goal and once you negate them, you could really differentiate between those with a purpose and those without.

Lunafreya returned her stare with unwavering and unrelenting conviction, with patience and understanding of the 'game' that one would never expect from someone her age. The young were often eager to prove themselves, and would take the silence as a signal to 'explain' things, muddling up their original proposal unintentionally in their haste.

Their conversation so far was brief, extremely so. The Oracle informed her of her request, explained in a few words why and decided that was enough. She did not feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny nor was she correcting anything she said.

Finally, the First Secretary spoke up, with a small smile on her face, "I'm in a bit of dilemma here, Princess Lunafreya." Shaking her head, she continued, "Then again, I should be worried either way."

"Hm?"

"You either clearly believe in everything you've just told me and expect me to understand the severity of the situation or you're a very good liar."

With a gentle smile, the Oracle replied, "I can assure you I'm a very poor liar, as I've been told time and time again."

"Why the confidence, child? Do you not fear that I'll simply laugh at your declaration and have you escorted to prison so I could hand you over to the Imperials?"

"I believe in the woman who has single-handedly managed to keep Accordo safe from the Empire all these years."

That managed to get a chuckle out of her as she shook her head, "Ha! I wish that were true."

"I have a very accurate source of information, Lady Claustra."

At that, the First Secretary narrowed her eyes, "Oh? I didn't think I was that careless, to leave such a 'source' floating around."

"I would tend to agree with you, given the stories I've heard."

A snort sounded at that moment, though in a confined space such as this, the resulting echoes easily amplified the sound, no matter how inconspicuous the individual intended for it to be.

Raising an eyebrow, the First Secretary inquired in a dry voice, "I didn't know we entertained guests in this room. Please do join us, I would love to meet the person who has managed to infiltrate this building without anyone realising."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

The drive itself took a couple of hours, but all in all, it went pretty smoothly. They managed to get to Vesperpool just before night time without interruption from monsters (which was quite lucky considering Noctis would sometimes deliberately drive through dangerous terrains just for fun). Ignis' nagging of his 'terrible' driving habits kept the entire journey filled with laughter and fun. The music helped too, allowing them to burst into chorus (minus Ignis) whenever they felt like it, eliciting nostalgic feelings within their souls (almost as if the music was painting a story of others who also embarked on a journey in an alternate universe, funny that).

"So, what are the chances a certain Chancellor would show up at our destination?" Prompto chirped as they eased into the parking spot very conveniently placed on the side of the road for them.

"Heh, knowing our luck, he's probably waiting for us right now." Noctis replied sarcastically.

"Regardless of the situation, we must stay on our guard at all times. He may have helped us a couple of times, but don't be surprised if this is all a trap."

"Aye, aye, captain."

It didn't take them long to locate the place that they were supposed to explore, and lo and behold, there was just the person they expected to see.

"Ah, what a coincidence." Taking a bow, the Chancellor of Niflheim greeted them casually, "It appears we are fated to meet once again."

Prompto groaned, "Sure, coincidence, I'd rather eat my foot than believe this."

"If that's the case, you must let me know how it tastes afterwards, I've never had the luxury to find out."

"Gaaaaah!"

"Prompto, hush! What can we do for you, Ardyn Izunia." Ignis adjusted his spectacles as he quickly scanned their surroundings once again, taking note of the emergency 'exits' available to them.

Chuckling, the violet-haired man shrugged as he replied, "Relax, relax! I'm not here to be a nuisance; in fact, I'm the key for your objective."

Noctis deadpanned, "Just how do you even _know_ our objective?"

"Oh don't you worry about it. I have my ways," With a wink that sent shudders down everyone's spine, he continued, "That being said, let's start moving. There is someone I would like you to meet."

The three of them looked at each other, before following the Chancellor. After all, mythril _was_ a very heavily regulated substance and had Ardyn not been here, they would most likely have scouted out the place, made camp and carry out their assault at a more convenient time.

"Now, I won't question why you need the mythril."

"Probably because you already know since you stalk us so much." Prompto grumbled under his breath as a response.

"But I'm sure you understand why I can't just let you bust your way into Steyliff Grove. It wouldn't do to draw too much attention to yourselves now, would it?"

No one bothered to react to the rhetorical question. Not only was it hypocritical to ask it considering it was the Empire that was trying to kill them all in the first place, but also it was somewhat humiliating that they had to rely on this guy in the first place. The condescending tone Ardyn always employed when he was speaking to them didn't really help either, but when you're really desperate for help, you didn't have much say in how you go about getting it.

Seeing their reluctance in engaging in conversation, the Chancellor simply continued commenting on the scenery as they traipsed through the woods, "Ah, here we are. I do believe you'll find sufficient help for you in there. Well then, I have other matters to attend to, since, you know, I'm important and all that stuff, so I'll leave you to it. Ta ta!"

"Wait, what?" Prompto gaped as the Chancellor left just as quickly as he appeared, "I seriously don't get what the hell is wrong with that guy."

"You and me both, mate. You and me both." Noctis shook his head as he turned to Ignis, "No ambushes? Armies? Tons of machine guns ready to fill us with bullets in a moment's notice?"

The tactician simply chuckled and shook his head, "No to the first two, as far as I can tell. The final one though, I have no clue. I don't think we'll be surprised by anything at this point."

"Well hello there boys." A sultry voice sounded behind them, shaking them out of their little conversation, "Fancy meeting you again."

"Whoa! No way! It's that hot chick that pretty much wasted us at the Imperial Base!" Prompto shrieked as he immediately hid behind Ignis, since he was the one that was 'wasted' the worst.

Lo and behold, the familiar blonde walked into view dressed in that same crimson armour, "I like you kid. So what's up? Back for some more cans of ass-whooping? Those don't come cheap you know."

Noctis rolled his eyes as he ignored the mocking comment, "Ardyn told us we would find help here to get into Steyliffe Grove."

Aranea clicked her tongue as she gave the guys a once over, "Right… so you guys are the 'recruits' that he wanted me to bring into the grove for a 'training session'."

"…" Ignis placed his hand on his forehead, so very tempted to just drag it down his face and stay in facepalm position for the rest of the night.

Surely, _surely_ , someone would pick up on this bullshit right? Why the heck would the Chancellor of Niflheim come up with such a _weak_ excuse to smuggle them in? What, _none_ of the soldiers would even question this? They were all just okay with the enemy pretending to be one of them?

Noctis simply looked up into the sky, staring at the sun that was slowly disappearing across the horizon, and resigned to his fate, "I'm not even going to bother anymore. Let's just get this over with."

"Smart words, pretty boy. Follow me."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

Footsteps sounded in the room as the figure popped out (literally) from the shadows, "Aww, I wanted to surprise you guys."

Spiky blond hair unruly as ever, cerulean eyes filled with jest plus the trademark whisker-like birthmarks gave away his identity instantly.

"Naruto-san!" Lunafreya gave a joyous cry as she gave the blond a big hug, "I've missed you so much!"

The Sage eased into the hug, running his fingers through her hair soothingly as he chuckled, "As have I. I was so jealous of Kurama being able to hog you all to himself, you know."

"You're just saying that to make me happy."

"Never! I'm so honest I embarrass myself sometimes. Speaking of which, why isn't that furry bugger jumping into my arms right now. I almost feel insulted by his lack of recognition of my appearance." He was just teasing because he knew Kurama was just hiding himself with a mild genjutsu whilst he took a nap on Lunafreya's shoulder.

"Shut up brat! You're making so much noise I can't sleep!" A snarky voice growled as the almighty Kyuubi appeared in all his glory – as a Chibi fox.

"Come'ere you ball of fluff! Did you miss me?" Grabbing him by the neck, the blond held up the disgruntled 'pet' to his face, with a smirk so wide it threatened to split his face.

"Keh! Miss you, I'd sooner kiss my ass!"

"Don't worry Naruto-san, Kurama-san missed you very much! He couldn't stop thinking about you on our way to Altissia!"

"What?! Don't believe what she said! It's all lies! Lies I say!"

"Awww Kurama, you do love me!" With that, the blond proceeded to execute his 'glomp of love'.

"Gaaaah! Get off me, you crazy ass! Let me go! This is abuse!"

"Shut up and enjoy my hug you ungrateful fox! Accept my love!"

"Hell no! Get your stinking face away from me! Wait, what are you doing?! You better not be thinking of –"

"Mwaaaaah!"

Silence, struggles stopped for but a second because the shock was just too great.

"D-did you just kiss me on the nose?"

"Heck yeah I did, haha!"

"Arrrrrrggggghhhhh!"

The absolute 'disgust' at such an act gave Kurama the power boost he needed to 'escape' Naruto's 'demonic grasp' and return to his safe haven (Luna's shoulder).

All this time, Lunafreya simply giggled at the exchange of 'affection' between the two of them. It never failed to amuse her how alike and different they were with each other. They clearly enjoyed each other's presence and would give their lives for the other without hesitation, yet the way they showed their love for one another was so different.

Naruto was all for coddling you, making sure everything was fine, showering you with love at every possible opportunity.

Kurama was all for tough love, challenging you to make you better, never letting you get too complacent with success.

Maybe that was why they were such a great combination, and it made the drama all the more fun.

"Ahem."

Amidst the chaos, a soft but stern cough was heard, bringing all three back to their current situation, with a displeased First Secretary of Accordo glaring at them.

"You will cease this foolishness at once."

"Yes mdm. Apologies mdm." Naruto answered robotically.

"Explain."

"Er… rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated…?"

" _Now._ "

"Yes mdm."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"So you guys ready to slay a Quetzalcoatl?"

"What's a Quetzalcoatl?"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Tales of Gladiolus coming out soon, which is always good. Hopefully I get time to play it, but otherwise I'll just spin it my way. I've added the carrot bit because that almost cracked me up. Hopefully we'll be able to move the events along to the showdown over the next couple of chapters.**_

 _ **As always, please read & review! Suggestions are welcome. Cheers guys. **_


	11. Chapter 10: Meeting Adjourned

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 10: Meeting Adjourned**

The silence in the room was welcome after the long explanations and subsequent conversations that happened. It was a lot of information to take in for them after all. Lunafreya had known some parts of Naruto's journey based on what Kurama had shared with her so far, but even then, it was fascinating to hear the blond talk about his experiences. Granted, he didn't go into too much detail but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

The First Lady was currently musing over the information she had just been exposed to and her mind was working furiously to calculate her next step. Based on what she was told, a battle breaking out in the middle of Altissia could not be avoided. Even if she denied the Oracle's request in awakening Leviathan, the Imperial forces that were on their way would most likely force the ritual one way or another. The Chancellor was a very resourceful man, and she had no doubt he would be planning something that would allow Niflheim long-awaited control over the City on the Sea.

Naruto was currently seated with his arms folded before his chest, a slight smile on his face. Even without his presence, Camelia would most likely have granted Lunafreya her request. After all, she was the Oracle, and meeting with the Six was simply her fulfilling her duty, guided by the Astrals. There might have been some collateral damage in her previous simulations but now that she was given information from him, he could tell that she was re-working the scenarios furiously. Such was the way she worked, never wanting to let anything pass her by.

"Luna, whatever happens, make sure Kurama is _always_ at your side."

"Okay, Naruto-san."

"Your safety is our priority, copy?"

"Yes, Naruto-san."

"Even if your precious Noctis-sama is about to be raped by the Chancellor, you will stand your ground and not move towards him. Are we clear?"

"Naruto-san!"

"Ah ha! That alone tells me that you weren't going to stay put."

"That's not – "

"Even if he gets skewered by Leviathan's tentacles, you have to ignore it!"

"What?! "

"No matter how many bullets he takes to his frail, skinny body, you have to – OUCH!"

Kurama had finally had enough and pounced on his idiotic friend's head, "Would you stop scaring her?!"

Lunafreya's face was currently running through multiple shades of white at just imagining Noctis being forced into those scenarios.

"Sorry… it's just so much fun though." Naruto pouted.

"Luna, Leviathan doesn't have tentacles and it's highly unlikely that brat will take _any_ bullets considering he has his 'phasing' ability."

"Heh heh, just highly unlikely, but there is still a possibi – OUCH!"

"Ignore him." Kurama growled menacingly in the blond's direction, waving his claw at him to try and get him to shut up.

"It's, it's okay Kurama-san. I'm sure Noctis-sama will be fine. He _is_ the chosen King after all." As brave as her words were, there was still a slight wavering in her tone.

"If you're all done disrupting my thought process," The First Lady commented dryly as she motioned towards Naruto, "Can we please bring our focus back to the matter at hand?"

"Pft, what are you insinuating there?" Naruto asked cheekily, "I would never! I know much you love thinking about things."

"Insufferable brat." Camelia shook her head as a weary sigh left her lips, "I'm getting too old for this."

"Aw, you know you love me. Besides, all you gotta do is evacuate the whole city, no pressure or anything."

If looks could kill, the glare that came his way could probably erase his existence altogether, "I hate you."

"What, compared to what we have to do, yours is focused and straight forward. I've got to figure out what the hell that crazy Chancellor wants from us, then I have to make sure the whole Leviathan thing works out, on top of keeping that creep away from Luna and Noctis, and finally, I have to actually set up a gigantic force-field around the damn city so that _your_ precious buildings don't get blown apart!" Waving his hands around dramatically for emphasis, Naruto continued, "Kurama just needs to get fat –"

"Oi."

" – Luna simply needs to be her normal confident self as she recites the speech because she is just that awesome – "

"Naruto-san, I'm not going to just _recite_ a speech! It's a message from the bottom of my heart to the people – "

" – so there! You have _zero_ excuses! You have to do this." Naruto ignored the cry of outrage from Lunafreya as he ended his 'argument' with a resounding palm to the table.

Crickets did their thing for a few awkward seconds before Camelia replied with a thin smile, "I don't have to do _anything_. This is all just speculation from your part, no concrete evidence whatsoever. You're asking me to evacuate a _city_ based on some _assumptions_ of yours, why on Eos would I agree?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Wooow, so you're going play it like this?"

"This is not a game! Countless lives are at stake here and if you think for one second that I'll let you run rampant just like that, mister, you're going to be in for a big surprise!" Her voice came out in a harsh whisper, firm and resolute.

"Let's put it this way, if you don't let me do what I want to do, then all of Accordo will be sunk."

Taking a step towards the blond, the First Secretary made no moves to hide her hostility, "Is that a threat?"

"No, that is what is going to happen if Ardyn Izunia gets free reign on what is going to happen with Leviathan. Instead of waiting for him to spring his trap, why not bait him into unleashing it under our terms?"

"I cannot just put forth an evacuation order just because you _think_ he will – "

"Have I ever lied to you before, Camelia?" Naruto answered simply.

"There is always a first time for everything."

"After all that I've done for Accordo, you think I'll sabotage you for fun?" The blond snorted, "I assure you I have way easier ways of screwing Altissia over if I wanted to. Leviathan is involved, you know, a _Sea Goddess_ that has the ability to flood your damn city if you don't take the necessary precautions. Do you reckon I have the patience to bother with such an _elaborate_ lie?"

Camelia's posture deflated somewhat as she sat back in her chair, "Be that as it may, getting everyone to our backup shelters is a hard task in itself. If what you predicted comes true, then we won't even have much time."

Naruto nodded, "Unfortunately yes. We have only some idea of when he will strike, but alas, it's hard to plan ahead. If my guesses are on point, then he will need Noctis to be present here in Altissia as well. I'm sure I don't need to tell you when he would deem Luna and Noctis to be at their most vulnerable state?"

Shaking her head, the First Lady sighed, "My sources tell me that the Imperial army is indeed working on sending someone over here with 'ambassador' status for the next couple of weeks. We have yet to receive a response with regards to their motive but it all coincides with what you've told me."

"Told you I never lie." Naruto beamed with satisfaction.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Kurama grumbled as he watched the blond's smugness in disgust, "I specifically remember that one time – "

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Don't discredit my honesty!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

Trudging through yet another lot of daemons, the group walked in a slightly disgruntled fashion towards their destination.

"So, remember just a few nights ago I told you guys I loved jelly and everything it represents?" Prompto piped as he tried to shake off remnants of the monsters they've just fought off his attire.

"Yeah?"

"I take it back. They're absolutely disgusting."

Aranea gave a dark chuckle, "Yeah well, by the end of this trip, I'm sure you'll regain your appreciation for them. You'll be fighting so many of them that you'll have no choice _but_ to appreciate them."

"There's _more?!_ " The absolute horror in his voice made his pitch turn out almost an octave higher.

"Sshhhh!" Noctis hissed at his friend, "Do you _want_ to attract monsters to you?"

"I did some research back in the days about Steyliff Grove and how it becomes a 'place of death' come night time." Ignis added to the conversation, "Apparently, there is no end to the number of daemons in this area because they can simply respawn after a short period. No one knew why that was, but some have hypothesized that it is due to some sort of magic that has been leaking into this place, perhaps we might come across the source in our adventure here."

"Hell no! We're just going to grab the mythril we're looking for and get out of here asap!" Prompto shrieked at the mere thought of having to stay here even a minute longer than necessary.

"I said _Shhhhh!_ " Really, was his friend incapable of understanding human words?

"You know, Spectacles, now that you've brought it up, I've heard something about this 'place of death' talk. It is rumoured that there are daemons that have somehow mutated and take the form of a reaper, you know, with the typical scythe, red glowing eyes, dark magic, all that good stuff. If we're lucky, we might run into a few." Aranea added with a feisty smirk, not worried about their progress whatsoever.

"Reapers?!" The photographer's face was going through the shades of white at a rapid pace.

"Do you not understand what 'shhh' means?" The Prince on the other hand, was going through shades of red.

"My name is not 'spectacles'. Please refrain from calling me that in the future."

"So uptight. Those spectacles look good on you! You shouldn't let it be a sign of shame! You should be proud and declare to the world your superiority whilst you wear the glasses! You know what would be cooler?"

"No."

"If they shot laser beams out! That would be like, the most epic pair of glasses to ever exist!"

"No, thank you. I appreciate the suggestion, but I respectfully decline."

"Aren't you the technical guy in the group? Make it happen! Modify those babies and take over the world!"

"No."

"Pft, you're no fun."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"In any case, Luna will be safe with Kurama, and my guys will be arriving in the city tomorrow. In the event that Kurama has to deal with Leviathan, they'll ensure her safety. You'll just have to convince Noctis' boys to help your people with the evacuation."

Camelia gave a reluctant nod before moving onto the next issue, "I assume you'll want a place to stay before the chaos happens?" The question was directed towards Lunafreya, since she did want to 'hide' from the Imperial forces in the meantime.

"Yes, please." The Oracle gave a polite bow, "I know this will cause you trouble but – "

"It's fine. No doubt the Imperials will come knocking on our doors requesting to 'retrieve' you, but I'm sure we can come to some sort of understanding with them."

"Thank you very much."

A gentle smile finally graced her lips for the first time in the meeting, "I made a promise that I would look out for you, it wouldn't do for me to break my promise."

With her eyes widening, Lunafreya's voice wavered just slightly, "Who?"

"Come on Luna, it's quite obvious." Kurama rolled his eyes, "Stop boosting his ego. I don't think I could take it anymore."

Spinning around, she was treated to the sight of Naruto flexing and doing all sorts of poses. With a confused expression, Lunafreya timidly pointed towards the blond, "Erm…?"

Camelia flat out ignored the Sage and shook her head in amusement, "He did ask, but no, that was not who I promised." Running a hand through her hair, the First Lady chuckled, "It was your mother."

A gasp of surprise left her lips as the Oracle stared at the woman before her in disbelief, "My mother?"

The posing blond broke down in an instant, "Aw, come on! You can't just play the 'mother' card! How am I supposed to beat that?"

"I don't think it's a matter of beating anything here." Kurama, surprisingly, was the voice of reason between the two.

"Yeah, but I'm like the overprotective older brother for her because her actual older brother isn't doing his job properly."

"Ho, shots fired much?"

"I'm _honest_."

"Regardless, can you not ruin the poor girl's moment?"

Needless to say, Lunafreya was just surprised that her mother had gotten someone to make that promise. They didn't leave their castle that often when she was young, considering how her mother was the Queen of Tenebrae and as far as she knew, she had never seen the First Lady of Accordo in the castle.

"It's complicated. I've never met her face to face, but we've exchanged letters over the years at the 'encouragement' of a certain meddling individual." A playful glare was sent at the bickering duo in the corner, making it more than clear whose 'fault' it was.

Lunafreya closed her eyes as her mind drifted to that fateful day where everything changed. Her mother had given her life to save them, just as she had always promised she would. As the Oracle of this world, she had pretty much seen the line of events that would lead to her ultimate goal – Purging of darkness from Eos. She knew what had to happen, and she knew the process would be tough, but she fought on, bottling the sadness, the pain, the loneliness, the sorrow, all of it, within her tiny frame as a kid.

She had to be mature, she had to _understand_ everything. There were no excuses for her. She was the one to guide the light, to ensure the world order gets restored. It was a daunting task, an impossible task even, placed on the shoulders of a girl that had just lost her mother. Her own brother had been warped by the war, focusing on hatred and revenge, because for him, that was all he had left. His love for her hadn't changed, she knew that. That didn't meant he showed it though, he became reclusive, more guarded and disinterested in social interactions. He had one goal, and one goal alone, and that was to kill the King of Lucis for daring to bring this disaster on them.

Little Luna had chosen to stay behind within Tenebrae because of her love for her brother. She loved her country, loved the people and wanted to protect them as much as she could. She would not let her mother's sacrifice go in vain. That event, more than anything, solidified her determination to see this through.

"Naruto-san, thank you." Tears slowly dripped down her cheeks as memories of her childhood rushed her all at once.

"When your mother passed away, that idiot blamed himself for it." Camelia continued, embracing Lunafreya like a mother would a child, "I'm sure you know what I mean."

Stroking her head gently, she chuckled, "Your mother treasured her children above all else, and mentioned in her final letter, that should anything happen at all, she pleaded with me to help them when the time came. I've never did understand it when I first got that letter, but I guess this all explains it. So my answer, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, is yes."

Struggling to hold back a sob, the current Oracle stared at the First Lady of Accordo straight in the eye, and let out a heartfelt 'Thank you', before she gave a full bow.

"It is my pleasure." Returning the bow with a slight nod of her own, she then gestured towards the blond that was somehow still arguing with his bijuu, "I think that man was saying he felt a bit lonely at our lack of attention on his actions."

Lunafreya laughed at her suggestion, before she gave a determined nod and rushed towards the unsuspecting blond, "Naruto-san."

"What happened to our bond, Kurama?! All the things we've been through, all the fights, the drunken nights, the – whoa there!" Naruto was in the midst of a 'reminiscing' battle with the fox before she was tackled by the Princess of Tenebrae.

"You alright, Luna? Who made you cry?! I'll kill –"

"You did."

" – him… er… what did you say?"

"You did." Why was she glaring at him?

"… well shit, can I take a rain check on committing seppuku?"

"All these years, and you've never mentioned about this?" Having such a cute girl glare at you was very intimidating, and also very cuddle-enticing, like you just want to hug her until the end of time.

"Mention…?" He was a bit too absorbed in his quest to point out to Kurama why the fox should be supporting him in all arguments instead of taking the side of delectable females that may or may not have spent the last ten years keeping the fox company.

"It's not your fault, Naruto-san. Everything you've done for me, it'll take me a lifetime to even scratch the surface of repaying you!"

Naruto blinked, before deadpanning at the esteemed First Lady, "What did you tell her?"

"Oh nothing of importance, just mentioned how you got me my first ever pen pal."

The Sage rolled his eyes, "All I did was suggest you ladies stick together. I didn't tell you to write a letter or anything."

"So, all the stationary and correspondence details just magically appeared on my desk that same day?"

A string of suspect whistling was her answer. It was stopped abruptly by a smack from the fox and an elbow from the petite girl in his arms.

"You know, I think Kurama's corrupted you with his violent tendencies." The blond gave an 'oof' as he tried to recover from the hit, "I'm not sure I like this change."

"Keh, I didn't do anything. That girl is a feisty one. You should know this better than anyone else Naruto, never incur the wrath of a woman."

Said Sage ignored his counterpart, and instead gazed steadily into Luna's eyes, understanding her frustration and concern, "It _was_ my fault."

"But – "

"No, no, hear me out." Taking in a deep breath, he continued, "I had known something along those lines was going to happen but I couldn't pinpoint the date. The reason why I wasn't there was because I went to carry out another strike on the Empire. Certain sources of mine had sent me information relating a massive lapse in security due to some sort of system breakdown. I thought there would be enough time to sort that out and back, but I underestimated them."

Shaking his head in disgust, "It was a trap. In all my overconfidence with my teleporting abilities, they somehow managed to nullify that for a short while. That short while cost me precious time, time that I had needed to get back and save you guys. If I hadn't been so damn arrogant in thinking I could do everything on my own, how I'm just this all-powerful person that can decide the fate of the universe however I want just because I've never lost in this world, then I might have stayed to prevent that tragedy from happening."

The Oracle was silent for a bit, before whispering, "I think, I think Mother would have known about her fate."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "What?"

"Oracles… have the ability to see our end. We aren't privy to the entire sequence of events that would lead to our demise, but… we sometimes see flashes of it." Luna smiled wistfully, before looking straight at Naruto, "I think she knew what was going to happen."

"Gaki, I'm the last one to make excuses for you but there was _literally_ no way you would have known they would strike on that same day. You left clones and everything but you couldn't have accounted for that 'stealth' technology they had developed out of nowhere."

Shaking his head, the blond sighed, "I know. I know all that, but regrets will still follow me wherever I go. When I first came here, I was so hyped. Everything was new, everything was different. The people I've met, the people I cherish, I wanted to save them all. I told myself I would save them all. Then I got served a big dish of 'fuck you'."

"Well, to be fair, you hadn't been given that dish for quite some time." Kurama snorted, "Good to remind you that you aren't a god, and gods die too."

"Heh, yeah. I've since been thoroughly reminded that no, keeping myself alive is not the hard task." Ruffling Luna's hair, he smiled, "Keeping everyone else alive, now that's like insanity difficulty."

"Naruto-san…"

"Luna, your mother loved you and your brother above all else. I promised her that I will protect you with my all, and make sure you find happiness in life, no matter what happens. Ever since I've met you, I knew how precious you are." Naruto grinned, "That little girl that patted me on the head? Kurama and I both agreed that we'd sooner die than let anything bad happen to you."

The Oracle shook her head, strengthening her hold on him, "No! No dying!"

Surprisingly, it was Kurama who responded with a chortle, "I swear I've heard that same sentence years ago."

" _Naruto-san! Naruto-san! Come play hide-and-seek with myself and Kurama-san!"_

" _I'm sorry Hime, I'm setting out on a mission now, maybe next time?"_

" _Mo! You're always busy, do you not like me anymore?"_

" _Now, now, don't pout. A cute girl like you should smile more."_

" _Hmph!"_

" _Aw, I'm hurt, I could die on this mission you know, and the last thing I remember will be you being angry at me. That makes me sad!"_

" _What?! No! No dying!"_

" _I don't know, anything could happen – "_

" _No dying!"_

" _Well, if you give me a smile, then I'll be able to do my very best to not die. What do you say Hime?"_

" _Mumumu… Okay! Hehe!"_

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Naruto could still hear the childish voice of young Luna in his ears as he gazed at her tearful eyes, "No matter what happens Luna, we will always be looking out for you."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"So you're saying you don't believe in the Empire? Then why are you working for them?"

"Eh, they pay me well. I could set up my own mercenary group again but I don't know. Someone put me off that idea a while back. Stupid blond asshole."

"Hey!"

"Oh forgot about you, don't worry, you're just wimpy, not at 'asshole' level yet."

"That's supposed to be a compliment?!"

"Anyway, I don't think you need me to tell you that something isn't right in Niflheim."

"Isn't right in what way?" Ignis asked curiously, using the opportunity to get some more inside information on the Empire. Hey, if the enemy was offering good solid intel, it would be a shame on his part to not get the most out of it.

"The magitek infantry manufacturing process. I have some ideas but nothing solid, but I'm sure you've realized it felt off at times when you destroy one, right?"

"Really? It feels like dismantling robots to me." Prompto shrugged, "I haven't really looked at them too much after we've defeated them. Most of the time we bugger off before more reinforcements come."

"Alright, you have just lost all rights to join this conversation, shut up and go scout for us."

"You're so mean!"

"What about you Prince? Felt anything?"

"Hm, now that you mention it, they do reek of daemons. I'm not sure if they always did but ever since all this crap happened, the unease whenever I face them lingers, so yes, I kind of know what you're talking about. Do you mean to say they weren't always like this?"

"If they had always been this strong, I'm pretty sure Insomnia would have fallen a lot sooner, no offence."

At that, Noctis did pause, "How would they even be improved? Better materials?"

Aranea snorted, "Oh yes, if my guesses are right, which I'm pretty sure they are, then the _materials_ were upgraded alright."

"What sort of upgrades?"

"Hm, well I could go into detail and explain what I've found, but you might want to focus ahead for now."

"Huh? Why would we – HOLY SHIT!" Prompto exclaimed as he quickly grabbed his pistol for dear life, "What the heck are those?!"

"I thought we'd been through this already. Isn't it quite obvious what they are?"

"Those are reapers?! I thought they were supposed to be humongous robotic bug-like spaceships that were meant to erase humanity from the galaxy!"

Silence all around was followed quickly by a series of exasperated sighs, "Prompto, you game too much."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

After the heart-warming scene, Lunafreya then explained to a patient Camelia what their plan was with Leviathan. During that time, Naruto was catching up with Kurama on recent events with regards to a certain chancellor.

"Any idea what his end game might be?"

"Nope. I've never lowered myself to the idiocy of humans to play such mind games. Power is everything."

"Oi."

"The only thing to be careful about is a counter to your abilities. There must be something giving him confidence if he's being all blasé about his tactics now. I still remember how he threw infantry after infantry at you all those years ago just to get some breathing space."

"It's irritating that we still haven't been able to figure out his motives after so many years. I mean I'm like the best shinobi _ever_ and I still detect his secrets? All we've got so far is that he is definitely using Starscourge to his advantage, or worse, he's somehow controlling it to spread across the lands."

"Well if you hadn't been a pussy and declined my suggestion to bijuu-dama them ten times over, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"Kurama, if I could maintain even one bijuu-dama, I would have done so by now. There is a reason we're currently separate."

"Yeah, yeah."

"By the way, have you seen Gentiana anywhere? I thought she was supposed to be in Altissia by now."

"Aww, look at you all smitten with the Ice Queen, it's so cute I could almost vomit."

"Just because you haven't had a meaningful relationship in like, oh I don't know, _ever_ , doesn't mean others can't enjoy it!"

"Please, your so-called 'meaningful relationship' involves back-and-forth flirting with no results! Be a man and take her already."

"These things take _time_ , okay? Besides, we're having fun in our own ways."

"You're taking this platonic concept a bit too far."

"For the love of, all I did was ask if you've seen her, can I just get a simple response?"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"What the hell do you mean 'why not'? I gave you your simple response, what more do you want?"

"Why can't you just tell me if you've seen her? And don't give me that you didn't physically see her bullshit, you know what I mean."

"I told you, you imbecile!"

"What? You said 'no'!"

"Exactly!"

"So why can't you… oh."

"Seriously, how are you still alive at this point?"

"You did it on purpose, didn't you, stupid fox!"

"Don't even attempt to blame your inexplicable stupidity on me, human!"

"Rawwwwwr!"

"Grrrrrr!"

Off to the side, Lunafreya and Camelia had long since finished their conversation and could only watch the 'bickering' of the two like spectators of a tennis match. The Oracle could barely contain her mirth as a familiar voice sounded in her head. She listened quietly, before nodding and turning to the First Lady, "Well then, it has been a pleasure, Lady Camelia. Again, I thank you very much for your assistance on this matter."

"No worries, my dear. I'll get someone to show you to your room. I presume you're happy if I lock the two of them in here until they sort their tension out of their system?"

"Oh yes, please do. Consider it a favour from the Glacian herself."

Raising an eyebrow, the First lady met the Oracle's knowing smile, before shaking her head, "I think I'm going to have the rest of the day off. An old lady such as myself can only take so many surprises in one day."

With that, the two ladies swiftly and quietly left the room, locking the door behind them, drowning out the squabbling noises from the duo.

" _You don't want me to bring him along, Gentiana?"_

" _No, it's more fun this way. Besides, those two needed some alone time together. I wouldn't want Kurama to be jealous of me after all."_

" _Hehe, so you admit to liking Naruto-san?"_

" _I've never hidden my adoration of that man."_

" _Oh you know what I mean!"_

" _Shall we talk about your love for Noctis then?"_

" _Erhem, erhem, so how's your day been Gentiana?"_

" _I thought so."_

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"Wait, you're telling me we gotta fight _that_?!"

"Yes."

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"That's a Quetzalcoatl."

"… Well, shit."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: The Gladiolus expansion is out. Need to find time to play it or at least watch youtube for a playthrough to get some ideas. It's slowly but surely coming together, the big one in Altissia. If you have any specific sidequests or funny things you would like to see for the Altissia arc, feel free to tell me, heh. Would be interesting to get Nyx and Crowe to do some stuff too.**_


	12. Chapter 11: Progression?

**Stand By Me**

 **Chapter 11: Progression?**

This should have been an impossible order. Only the most sadistic and insane commander would ever order his soldiers to do something like this with a time limit. Yet here they were, panting and exhausted, yes, but they made it; all the way across the ocean and then some. They couldn't very well swim up to the entrance the normal way since it would defy the whole point of them even attempting to arrive in Altissia like this.

The suits that Leader had given them had worked out perfectly. They had been slightly sceptical (okay, maybe a bit more than slightly) when they were told that wearing this would give them a significant edge but once they tried it out, they were pleasantly surprised by its functions. Needless to say, both of them agreed silently that they were going to buy something for the old man that made them the suits.

The whole trip was done underwater, and whilst there weren't any boosters attached to the suit, for some reason, they were able to swim at twice the speed they would have been able to had they been on the surface. No wonder Leader told them they didn't have to worry about getting to Altissia in one day.

Crowe and Nyx had successfully 'emerged' on Altissia's port without any complications, mingling in with the crowd with ease. Now, all they needed to do was get to the meet-up spot where someone was supposed to meet up with them and brief them on their next tasks.

Emphasis on supposed.

"I don't see him." Nyx mumbled as he checked the surroundings in a discreet manner, "Or her."

"I guess it was too much to ask for him to tell us _who_ or _what_ we're actually looking for." Crowe frowned as she too, failed to see who their target was. If this was his idea of a joke, it wasn't very funny for them.

The good news was there weren't any signs of Imperial soldiers yet, so at least they had some time on their side. The bad news was they weren't really making use of that time considering how they've just spent the last hour trying to find the person that was going to meet up with them. At this rate, who knows when the person might show up.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place?"

"Nyx, we've checked _every_ possible place by now."

"We _could_ have missed something."

"You said the same thing half an hour ago, so we switched areas and did a search once more."

Shrugging, Nyx crossed his arms and frowned, "You know, we might have been wrong in our search."

"Huh?"

"We've been looking for people who would know our Glaive signs, but come to think of it, Leader has never really used those, has he?"

Crowe drummed her fingers on her chin as she thought about it, "Now that you mention it…"

"What did he say before we left?"

" _Ha! Don't worry, you'll see him easy."_

Both of them looked at each other, "Easy… Meaning that person must stand out amongst the crowd."

"But, no one really stands out." Crowe grumbled frustratingly as she tried to figure this out.

"Maybe it's not a 'person'." Nyx's eyes, however, were now glued to a 'target'.

The brunette raised an eyebrow as she followed his gaze, "Really?"

"I'm actually surprised we didn't point this out earlier."

"But it's _right there_. I thought it was just a stray."

"Hm, a stray fox just roaming a city on water."

At that, even Crowe had to admit it was unlikely to be a coincidence for the fox to just be _there_. Come to think of it, it hadn't moved an inch from its spot. No one else seemed to pay it any mind, walking past it as though it didn't existed. The more she thought about it, the more surprised she was, "Wait, why are we only just realizing that a crimson fox is such an obvious target? And how come no one seems to care?"

Nyx sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "This might be that 'genjutsu' thing Leader used to tell us about. The art of mirages or something like that."

Crowe grimaced, "So it's very likely that the fox isn't normal either."

"I don't think a normal fox would stay that still in the middle of such a bustling city." Nyx gave a short nod towards his partner, before making his way towards it, "Let's give it a try. We could still be wrong."

"Doubt it. This would make the most sense."

With that, the two of them braced themselves and walked towards the fox that had been there _the whole time_ they were searching. At this stage, they were pretty much ready for anything. Nothing else would surprise them.

"Keh, took you idiots long enough."

Nyx was just about to open his mouth to 'greet' the fox, only to raise an eyebrow as he heard that, "Did you…?"

Crowe on the other hand, had her eyes widening at an alarming pace, "What…?"

"Oi, stop gaping at my awesome presence and move it. We've lost enough time as it is."

With that, the fox stood on all fours, before waving its tail at them, as though beckoning them to follow it. It was quite interesting seeing such a disgruntled expression on the face of what was supposed to be a very cute animal, if one could overlook the fact that it did something no animal should be able to do.

Both glaives continued standing there like frozen statues, unsure how to proceed with their next course of action. Their brain was still taking its time to compute what they had just seen. This fox couldn't be a normal animal, ducks didn't talk, cows didn't talk, so why would foxes talk?! It must be a daemon, there was no other explanation, that would mean they must –

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

The response to that was a slap in the face from the fox's bushy tail, "I said _move_!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

The sun was blazing in Cape Caem as the Amicitia 'slaved' away in the garden, taking care of the five carrots that the shady business owner insisted on buying. Till this point, Gladiolus still couldn't believe how much it took to just sort out five carrots. The amount of work that went into taking care of them (according to what Iris had showed him) was immense!

You would think sticking seeds into the ground, watering them every now and then would be enough, and voila, the next day you get five carrots! Sadly, it didn't work like that in this case. It was quite unsettling how that Claude guy just stood there, without moving from his spot. Like literally, he didn't move one step. He was dressed in a freaking suit for Eos sake, and in this blazing weather, Gladiolus didn't even want to imagine the amount of sweat that would perspire. Yet the French business owner seemed perfectly comfortable in his position. Unsettling, to say the least.

Sighing as he finally finished sorting out the soil, he was just about to go grab the fertilizer when Iris' voice sounded, "Onii-chan? General Cor is on the line for you!"

Blinking, the older Amicitia frowned, "Oh?" Quickly dusting his hands, he rushed into the house to see his sister holding out the phone to him with a smile, "Did he say what it's about?"

"Nope."

"I see. Alright, I'll take it."

"Hm!" Iris nodded and handed over the phone obediently, before heading outside, "Take your time!"

Gladiolus gave a grateful smile, before regaining his serious tone, "Gladiolus here."

" _Did I catch you at a bad time?"_

"No, it's fine. What can I do for you?"

" _Ha! No small talk I see, same old Gladiolus."_

The Amicitia shook his head slightly, holding silent for the question that would come.

" _Well, in that case, have you got some time on your hands? I've got something that might interest you."_

Frowning, Gladiolus replied, "Er, sure. Anything for you, sir."

" _Meet me at Crow's Nest in Taelpar tomorrow morning."_

"Yes sir."

With that, the line went dead. Gladiolus sat there for a moment, pondering the call. It wasn't every day the Immortal general just called you up for a chit-chat. He must have something important he wanted to convey to him.

Getting to his feet, he went back outside, searching for his sister, "Iris!"

"Yeah?"

"I've got some business to take care of tomorrow, so I'll be away for a couple of days, will you be alright by yourself?"

"Pft, I'm a grown up! I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much! Besides, I've got Claude and the others to keep me company."

Rolling his eyes, he ruffled her hair the same way he had done over the years, "Just don't cause too much trouble, you little trickster."

"Hehe!"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me." Naruto grumbled as he sat at the table, munching away on his French toast, "You knew I was looking for her."

Lunafreya simply giggled at the disgruntled blond, "But you were having such a good time with Kurama-san, I thought it rude to intrude."

"No, you didn't. She told you not to tell me, right?" Jerking his head to the serene goddess seated beside him, Naruto shook his head, "Women are evil, all of you."

"I'm hurt that you'd feel that way." Gentiana spoke in that calm, silky voice of hers, "I can always leave and come back later."

"Oh no, you don't." Naruto growled as he glared at the Ice Queen, "You haven't told me what transpired in your talks!"

"Is that all I am to you? A source of information?" The teasing just never stopped with this woman.

"Oh for the love of…"

"Mo, Gentiana, stop torturing him."

"Ah, my apologies. I simply can't resist the temptation when it comes to this man." Those violet orbs shined with delight as she watched her favourite blond finish up the last of his breakfast.

"Keh, says the one who evaded my hug and sent me sprawling to the floor."

"That, my dear, was not a hug." Gentiana chuckled, remembering that particular scene.

"It _so was_! And you dodged it!"

"It was a flying tackle." The flat tone in her voice was loud and clear.

"No, it wasn't! Luna, be my witness! It was an honest to Eos hug!"

The Oracle had to stifle the laughter that was welling up as the scene from yesterday replayed in her mind. Naruto had truly been very excited to see Gentiana and for some reason, had decided to do a running start and leap towards the Goddess, leaving said Ice Queen no choice but to move to the left. The end result, of course was the blond spiralling into the wall and sliding down, face-first, onto the ground. He wasn't hurt or anything on the outside, but his ego was definitely bruised.

"I thought we had a connection, a bond! Now I know it's all lies!" Naruto declared as he drank his milk, "You were just using me for your own gains!"

Gentiana simply nodded along, with that smile on her face, watching the man she admired make a fool of himself, "If you say so."

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"Why, I would never do such a thing."

"That's a lie! You would do it on a daily basis if you could!"

Standing up, the goddess walked straight up to the blond and pulled the pouting 'child' into her arms, "There, are we feeling better?"

In response, the blond instantly returned the embrace, once again spinning the Ice Queen all over the place, "Mwahahaha! Plan 'pout until Gentiana hugs you' a success!"

Lunafreya shook her head at the childishness shown by the blond, but understood that this was part of his charm. She had never seen Gentiana look so content anywhere else after all. She would always remember the first time she heard the Ice Queen truly laugh from the bottom of her heart; it was quite the monumental achievement considering how calm and collected she always was. Yet this blond had managed to open her heart and bring out her playful side, something that she had forgotten about many, many years ago.

As the two were spinning about, Naruto's phone rang, shaking Lunafreya out of her reverie. Picking it up, she waved the device at the spinning couple and called out, "Naruto-san! Incoming call!"

The Sage noticed it and ended his 'twirling' gracefully, placing Gentiana back on her feet with an exaggerated bow, before thanking Lunafreya and answering, "Hello?"

" _All done, I'll be meeting up with him tomorrow morning."_

"Heh, nice work. Thanks, Cor."

" _You really think he's ready?"_

"That guy is always ready. Remember when we got you in there?"

" _I thought for sure that was your way of getting rid of me."_

"Pft, as if. I had faith in your abilities."

" _Uh huh, a mention of how many people died in there before sending me in would have been appreciated."_

"Now, where would the fun be in that? Besides, you fight best when you're pushed into a corner."

" _Alright, shall I bring him to Altissia once it's done?"_

"Oh, oh, are you going to come join in the fun?"

" _I've got a couple of things to take care of on my end, but once they're done, I'll meet up with you in Altissia."_

"Excellent!"

" _If it weren't for your clones handling our resistance forces, I probably wouldn't be able to leave."_

"Sigh, well, we don't have that many of them, but they are elites, so there's that."

" _At this stage, it'll never be a full-scale war against Niflheim. Infiltration and assassination seems to be our only bet."_

"It's weird to hear the Immortal General say that."

" _I've been converted over the years."_

"Aw, stop it, you're making me blush."

" _Ha! That will be the day. Anyway, that's all from me. Take care of the Princess."_

"Will do, catch you next time."

It was quite interesting when Naruto finally revealed himself to Cor, considering how long the general had searched for him. He half-expected the Immortal to either punch him or hug him. He got both right, though it wasn't so much a punch as an exasperated swat and the hug was way stronger than he was prepared for, almost as if he wanted to snap him in half (he probably did).

Regardless, they had convened, shared some stories, insight and all that and had decided in their next moves. It wasn't like Naruto hadn't left _any_ clues for Cor to tell him that he was indeed alive and kicking; it just wasn't enough for the poor general to find out _exactly_ where the blond was, which of course was plenty frustrating. Nevertheless, the Sage was 'forgiven' and now they were both working separately to find ways to help 'buff' up Noctis and his boys.

"Was that General Cor?" Lunafreya asked interestedly.

"Yeah, he's sorting Gladiolus out for me. There is a place perfectly suited for the big guy, and I think after his run-in with Ravus, he sorely needs a power-up." Naruto shook his head helplessly, "There comes a time when human physicality can only accomplish so much. Against daemons, your muscles probably won't be enough to save you."

"They faced off my brother?!" The Oracle gasped, "Are they alright?"

"Wow, ye of no faith." Naruto teased before he was whacked on the head, "Ow."

Gentiana retracted her hand in a graceful manner only she could manage after hitting someone on the head, "Don't worry Luna, they're fine."

"Oh, that's good to hear." Breathing a sigh of relief, she grimaced, "I'm still trying to understand his actions."

The blond shrugged, "I want to be really shallow for once and just say he's doing this out of revenge."

"You mean always."

"Hey, I resent that! I may _act_ shallow but that doesn't mean I _am_ shallow!"

Lunafreya simply shook her head, "That was what I thought at first, but he was the one who encouraged me to make the right decision. Kurama-san was there with me too, he saw it."

"What."

"He and I may not always see eye to eye on everything, but I know he loves me still. Even during his most outrageous moments, he still wanted to keep me safe."

"Welp, if he's trying to take down Niflheim from the inside, he's playing the spy game very well." Naruto scratched his head, "Though it would coincide with what my source has told me. That kid is way too complicated for his own good. Then again, I can't really blame him."

Gentiana smiled as she sat next to her charge, "Do you believe in your brother?"

The Oracle nodded silently, though her worry was plain as day, "Of course, it's just that, sometimes I fear he may be trying too hard to right what he deems wrong."

"That… is surprisingly accurate." Naruto rubbed his chin as he assumed his thinking pose, "Either way, no need to worry. I've got tabs on his activities so if worse comes to worse, I'll get him out of there."

"Thank you, Naruto-san."

"Don't mention it. I did promise your mother to take care of both of you. Since he rejected my help openly, the only way to look after him was from the shadows, which ironically enough, has always been the Shinobi way, heh."

Lunafreya smiled gratefully, before asking, "Speaking of which, where is Kurama-san? I haven't seen him all morning."

"Ah yes. He's gone out to pick up your bodyguards."

The Oracle's eyes widened slightly, "Bodyguards?"

"Yep. You're pretty familiar with one of them. I managed to sort out the mess in Insomnia somewhat after you escaped from there."

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door, "Oi, we're back, let us in."

"Speak of the devil." Sending out a chakra pulse just to make sure no unwanted presence was nearby, Naruto opened the door and let the 'visitors' in, "Alright! I see you guys made it here… fine… Er, what happened?"

Kurama simply strolled towards Lunafreya and plopped himself in her lap, snuggling into a cosy position, "Saaaa, beats me."

The Ice Queen chuckled in mirth at the bemused expression on Naruto's face as he tried to figure out the reason why his subordinates seem unfocused. The female one was muttering 'it talks' constantly whereas the male seemed slightly disturbed but was silent about it.

"Commander Nyx!"

Said 'commander' blinked, shaking himself out of the distorted world of animals chatting with each other wherever he went, "Huh? Oof!"

Lunafreya had placed Kurama on her shoulder and rushed towards Nyx, pulling him into a tight hug, "You're alive!"

"Princess?" Staring in surprise at the warm welcome he had received, he quickly smiled reassuringly, "Yes, I managed somehow, thanks to Leader over there. It's good to see you're well too."

"Hm! How is Libertus-san?"

"He's recovering, his leg should be completely healed in another week or so, at least that's what he was hoping for."

"Oh, that's good." Her smile was contagious as one could just feel the relief rolling off her, "I just… I thought the worst had happened to you two after the incident at Insomnia…"

"Ha! I know, right? It's like this guy tries his hardest to kill himself whilst doing the most heroic of things." The brunette next to him finally spoke up after witnessing their interaction, "Pleased to make your acquaintance Princess, I'm Crowe."

"Nice to meet you, Crowe-san." The Oracle responded easily, "Are you part of the Glaives too?"

"Yep. Got picked up by the great Uzumaki Naruto and hadn't let up since."

"Aw, stop it you guys, you're making me blush."

"I was going to say how Nyx picked up more than just fighting skills from you." Crowe smiled roguishly, "He learned your daredevil tendencies at the same time."

Nyx could only smile thinly as he tried to signal to Crowe to shut up.

"Oooh, now that you mention it, it did feel a bit déjà vu-ish when – "

"Annnd stop. Let's not discuss our suicidal urges right now." Naruto gave a big, loud cough to try and stop the stampede of comments.

A short burst of laughter echoed throughout the room before things settled down.

"Crowe, you'll be up front and close to Luna."

"Yes sir."

"Nyx, sniping distance, no closer."

"Yes sir."

"You make it sound like you're assassinating her." Gentiana teased playfully.

"It's a habit of ours. We had that one mission where we had to convince others that we were going to assassinate someone but were actually ordered to protect all the way. It kinda grew on us and we stuck to this code ever since."

"Those were good times." Crowe mused, before shaking her head, "What happens when the Imperials come?"

Naruto scratched his cheek idly, "Eh, just blend in with the environment. I'll have a chat with Camelia about giving you a temporary position and the necessary access to stuff."

"Sweet!"

"As for Nyx, do what you do best. Scouting, observing and planning."

"Will do."

Clapping his hands together firmly, Naruto declared, "Yosh! Now, all we gotta do is wait for Noctis and co to show up. The Chancellor appears to be on his way over here, so it should only take a couple of days max. For all we know, he might show up in the next five minutes. Luna, make sure to rest up, alright?"

"Okay, I will."

"As for me, well, Gentiana and I have some things to catch up on before we see if we can have a chat with a friend of hers." Grinning, the blond shrugged, "We'll see if my luck holds up this time."

***** ~ XV ~ *****

"So what's your next destination? I can give you guys a short ride if you'd like." Aranea offered as they made their way through the grove.

"Somewhere clean would be nice." Prompto grumbled as he stared down at his dirt-covered self. He had to do a _lot_ of rolling and dodging against that stupid bird. Noctis was fine because he had his warping abilities and Ignis was just his usual self, calculating where all the hits would land way beforehand. Him being the long-distance shooter, was rushed quite a few times by that bird, leading to several embarrassing moments in the fight. He doubted anyone would let him forget those.

"Well, old man Cid did mention we had to get this mithril treated before we could use it, so maybe Lestallum? We were going to play it by ear and see if there was anything we missed around here before heading back."

"Hmmm." Aranea raised an eyebrow, contemplating her next words, "Well, if you aren't in a hurry, there is something that might interest you."

"Oh?" Noctis answered, curious as to what this woman would suggest. Throughout their journey into the dungeon, they had bonded in an odd way, considering how this woman was the enemy and had fought them hard in that Imperial base. Yet, her honesty and laid back nonchalant attitude reminded him of another blond in his life and they found out she was actually really easy to get along with.

"There is this place, not far off from our current location. You might have heard of it before, called the Myrlwood?"

"Ah yes, we had a hunt request for a Treant in the Myrlwood. It was one of our options, but I'm guessing that is not the reason why you're mentioning that place?" Ignis replied.

"Well, we've never bothered actually venturing into that place to find out for ourselves, but there is this rumour that hidden within the depths of the woods is a tomb." Her eyes twinkled as she let that information sink into their head.

"A… tomb you say." Noctis tilted his head slightly, "Interesting…"

"We should totally go have a look then! Aranea-san wouldn't have suggested it unless she really cared about us!" Prompto cheered, before his head drooped, "Or she's got this huge ambush waiting for us there to skin us alive. Eeeek!"

Ignis rolled his eyes as Aranea waved her spear threateningly at Prompto, "Doubtful. If she wanted to ambush us, there really wasn't any need to help us with the Quetzalcoatl. What do you reckon, Noctis?"

Instead of answering Ignis immediately, the Prince instead chose to look at Aranea, "Mind showing us the way?"

The Captain blinked, before smirking, "You've got some guts, kid."

Noctis returned the smirk easily, "Oh you haven't seen nothing yet."

Ignis and Prompto looked between the two, before resigning themselves to their next trip.

"Oi, Biggs!" Aranea yelled out at her subordinates guarding the Airship.

"Yeah?"

"Set the coordinates for Myrlwood, that's our next destination."

"Ehhhh?! But I thought we were supposed to –"

"Do it!"

"Yes Mdm!"

"And tell Wedge to get some food ready for us!"

"Yes Mdm!"

Turning back the group, she gave a slight bow, before grinning, "Well then, Prince, shall we?"

***** ~ XV ~ *****

 _ **A/N: Sorry for the delay and the shorter chapter. I've been playing Persona 5 as much as I could and I've finally managed to finish it. So far, for me at least, that game is GOTY. So much entertainment and replay value. About 3 trophies away from plat-ing it in New game plus, so that's what I'll be doing, heh. I'll make sure the next chapter has more progression and will include the Gladiolus DLC (which was disappointing, to say the least). Either way, comments are always welcome, as usual, cheers guys!**_


End file.
